Immortal Magic
by Not Enough Answers
Summary: It's Nessie's eleventh birthday and her present is a trip to London, England. But what will happen when the Cullens discover a whole new supernatural world-that of magic? Next Generation HP. NOW ABANDONED.
1. Confusion

**Hey guys!**

**This story was originally first published on here about a year ago, but I deleted it to do some editing. Unfortunately, I didn't get much editing done, but I did finish the story! I'm planning to upload all the chapters. The chapters should be posted once a week, so the whole thing should be on here around November.**

**Anyway, if you haven't read the story yet, please try it out! If you have, then you're more than welcome to reread it again. **

**DISCLAIMER: ****I am not, nor will I ever be, JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer. But hey, I can always hope, right?**

**It's told in Renesmee's POV. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

The incessant alarm clock chirped right into my ear. I groaned and reached out a hand to slap the snooze button. But the stupid clock didn't stop.

"Come on," I growled, still not opening my eyes.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Now I was really getting annoyed. My eyes flying open, I slammed the alarm clock so hard I heard the springs inside it crack. The beeping stopped with a pathetic whining sound.

"Oops," I mouthed. Guess I had accidentally used vampire strength for that one.

Hopefully Mom and Dad hadn't heard.

I twisted around in bed to look at my still-closed door. I couldn't hear them at all, which was strange. Usually I'd hear them talking or moving around before I got up.

Well, since I was awake now, I might as well get up. Stretching, I climbed out of bed and walked over to the _enormous _closet my aunt Alice had given me for my seventh birthday, the year when I had reached full maturity. Now, I looked like an eighteen-year-old and would for the rest of eternity.

Speaking of birthdays, my eleventh birthday should be here any day now. Since I wasn't in high school this year (none of us were) I hadn't been keeping track of the days.

I'd already been to high school twice since I'd started high school when I was physically fourteen but three years of age (once in Forks and the other in La Push) and, frankly, learning the same things over and over again were becoming tedious. That was why all of us "kids" had taken this year off. Hopefully the children in Forks and La Push would forget about us so we could start a fresh start in the school(s) next year.

Not to mention the fact that my grandfather Carlisle might have to quit his job soon because he'd been working at the same hospital for fourteen years and he hadn't changed at all.

The people in Forks were getting suspicious. Sometimes, when they thought I wasn't listening, I could hear Mom and Dad talking about where we should move next, since we'd have to sometime. The problem was, I didn't _want _to move. Forks was my home, the place where I'd been born and where I had lived all my life. What place in the world could be better?

Now I'd worked myself into a depressed mood. _There's no point getting all upset about it now, Nessie, _I told myself. _It might not even be for a few years._

Cheered by that thought, I quickly got dressed into a jean miniskirt and a red blouse that Alice had bought for me two weeks ago when we went to Seattle. I enjoyed fashion and clothing, which immensely pleased Alice. But to her disappointment, my mother _hated _getting dressed up. Whenever Alice suggested it, Mom always groaned and offered to stay home instead. (She was never successful.)

I ran a brush through my hair and put on lip gloss. "You don't need makeup, Nessie," Mom constantly said. "You're perfect the way you are." But hey, a little more touching up didn't hurt, did it?

I looked around my room one more time before leaving. My bed was rumpled from sleeping and my closet door was thrown open. My makeup table was also strewn with items. I was a bit of a slob when it really came down to it, but barely anyone came into my room other than me, so I figured it didn't really matter if it was messy or not.

"Mom, Dad, I'm up!" I called as I emerged into the hallway. I knew my parents would have heard me getting up in the first place, but I always felt better announcing my presence. A few times I had walked right into them doing, uh, things that probably weren't appropriate for my eyes. I hoped that wouldn't happen again if I always made myself known every morning.

But, surprisingly, there was no answering call. "Mom? Dad?" I asked again, peering into their room. The big white bed was unruffled; the door to their small "courtyard" was closed.

This was strange. They had never done anything like this before. Maybe they were playing a trick on me?

I left their room and continued downstairs. They weren't in the front hallway, or the living room either. I even went to the back door and stuck my head outside. Nothing. I couldn't even smell their scent.

Now I was really getting worried. They couldn't have just left me here. They would never do that.

I figured the best thing to do would be to go to the main house and ask. If the others didn't know where they were either, then we had a problem on our hands. But surely Alice would be able to see where they went.

There was a loud knock on the front door and I caught a whiff of Jacob's scent. I nearly threw myself at the door as I wrenched it open. "Jake!" I said happily, running into his arms.

I felt him kiss the top of my forehead. "Hey, Ness."

Jake was my going-on-four-years boyfriend. We'd been best friends ever since I was born, but it wasn't until shortly after my seventh birthday, when I'd reached my full maturity, that I'd started to notice him _that way. _It had taken all my courage to tell him that, but when I finally did, it really paid said that felt the same way about me (obviously he did; he imprinted on me), and, well, we'd never looked back. I was deeply in love with him and my uncle Emmett often joked that we should get married. I loved Jake, but I didn't want to get married to him just yet. I was content with just being girlfriend and boyfriend now.

"Have you seen my parents at all?" I asked, pulling away from him. "They're not in the house."

A ghost of a smile pulled at Jacob's lips. "No, not at all," he said. Jake was always a terrible liar.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Jake! Where did they go?"

"Nessie, I honestly don't know," he protested, the smile disappearing.

I decided to play along with it. "Fine. Let's go up to the house, then. The others might have heard something."

Jake took my hand and we walked out of the little cottage and onto the path that led right up to the main house.

We walked at no more than a human pace, enjoying each other's company. The day that I was born, Jacob, one of my mother's old friends, had "imprinted" on me, meaning that he was bound to me forever and I was his soul mate. This was a bit confusing, being that Jake was a werewolf and I was half-vampire, but apparently imprinting worked in strange ways. According to Sam Uley, the leader of Jacob's pack, werewolves imprinted on those that would carry on the gene best. This made things even _more _confusing. I didn't even know if it was possible for half-human, half-vampire offspring to have children. Carlisle didn't know either, and he was a doctor. I didn't know if I could have children with a human, or a vampire, or both. I wasn't about to try it out, either.

"What are you thinking about, Nessie?" Jake asked. I jerked out of my reverie to see him smiling softly down at me.

I didn't answer, only squeezing his hand. I could still show people images at will, but I didn't need to be touching their face.

"Aw, come on, Ness," Jake complained.

"Nope!" I pursed my lips and shook my head. "It's enough having Dad read my thoughts all the time. Not you, too."

Jake rolled his eyes. "You used to show your thoughts all the time—"

"Yeah, well, that was when I was little. Do I look little to you anymore?"

Jake smirked, looking me up and down. "You've got a point there."

The huge white house was quiet when we arrived. The back door was slightly ajar; it was as if someone was waiting for us to come.

I strained my ears as we got closer for noise or movement, but the house was perfectly silent. I couldn't even hear anyone breathing. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction so I couldn't smell them.

"Do you suppose they're in there?" I asked Jacob, letting go of his hand.

"No idea," Jake said, holding open the back door for me.

"Guys?" I called softly as I emerged into the kitchen. "Where are you?"

Still no answer.

"Jake?" I asked, turning around. "What—"

But Jacob was gone, too.

I frowned. "Jake? Jake, where'd you go?"

When he didn't respond, I felt a shiver run up my spine. What had happened?


	2. Surprise Party

**Hey guys! So, here's the second chapter. (No, it's the tenth. Obviously.)**

* * *

I left the kitchen and crossed the hallway to the front room. If they were outside, I would be able to see out the front window—

"SURPRISE!" nine voices shouted. I nearly jumped backwards as Mom, Dad, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, and Jacob leaped out from behind chairs, desks and tables.

That was when I noticed the decorations. There was a huge banner hanging across the ceiling saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NESSIE!" A chocolate cake rested on a table, and a corner of the room was filled with brightly wrapped presents.

Alice danced over to take my hand. "I can't believe you didn't realize it was your birthday! We've been planning this for weeks and you never suspected a thing!" she trilled.

"Seriously? It's September tenth?" I asked. "I thought it was like the fifth or something!"

"You can be so dense sometimes, Ness." Jake teased, shaking his head in mock amusement.

"Happy eleventh birthday, honey." Dad came over to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Thanks, Dad—but why is there a cake? You know I don't like human food." Were they expecting me to eat it?

"It's for Jacob," my father chuckled. "And Leah and Charlie and Sue and Seth when they come later."

I laughed. "Thanks, you guys. I wasn't expecting this at all."

"I know you weren't," Alice said, tugging me forward towards the presents. "You didn't suspect a thing—open your presents now!"

"These are all for _me?_" I gaped at them.

"No, they're for me," Emmett joked.

I mock-scowled at him. "Sure. You can have the pink miniskirts and blue headbands."

"Just what I've always wanted." He laughed.

"Open ours first," my mother said, handing me a present wrapped in green. "I think you'll like it."

I tore away the paper to see a new pink iPod. "Wow, Mom and Dad!" I nearly yelled. "Thanks!"

I had an MP3, but it was nearly as old as I was and it had broken long ago.

Dad laughed, wrapping his arm around Mom's waist. "I know a way to convert all the songs on your old MP3 to this iPod. I'll show you later if you like."

"Sure, Dad!" I said enthusiastically. He beamed.

"Open mine and Emmett's next," Rosalie urged, tossing me a purple package.

I opened this one to reveal a makeup kit, complete with a curling iron and a nail care set.

"Thanks, guys!"

"I picked it out," Emmett said proudly.

Mom rolled her eyes. "Why do you encourage her, Rose?"

Emmett answered for her. "Let the kid do what she wants, Bella. Anyway, I'm sure Pup here likes it." He gestured to Jacob, who narrowed his eyes.

I turned to the next present, which said it was from Alice and Jasper. "What did you get me now, Alice?" I asked, imagining piles of new clothes.

"Actually, Jazz picked it out," she said, smiling at her husband.

"I thought you'd enjoy it," Jasper said, gesturing that I should open it.

It was a box set of classic novels, the authors from Jane Austen to L. Frank Baum. I felt a grin spread across my face. "You know I love the classics, Jasper!"

"Bella told me," he said. "I know you love reading as much as she does."

I did. I'd gotten her love for the classic books as well. "Looks like I'm not going to be bored for the next few years," I said, eyeing the thick books greedily.

"Okay, okay," Jake said, taking a step towards me. "Enough with the books. Open mine, Nessie."

His was probably the plainest wrapped of all, in simple brown tissue paper. I ripped the paper apart to see a…delicate golden ring. I looked up at him, eyes wide.

"It's not an engagement ring or anything," he explained. "You can wear it on any finger you want. I just saw it in the window of the jewelry shop and thought you would like it."

"I love it, Jake." I slipped it onto my ring finger, where it sat there, sparkling in the sunlight. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my father glaring at him.

Just as Jacob was about to retort, I grabbed the last present to ease the tension.

As soon as they spotted me holding the blue-wrapped parcel, the change in the air was almost palpable. Dad and Jake stopped staring each other down; Mom stopped frowning at Rose, and Alice smiled widely at me. "It's from Carlisle and Esme," she said. "And I have a feeling this will be your favorite present."

I turned to my grandparents. Esme smiled gently. "Go ahead, honey."

This present was the smallest of all; it only contained a plain cardboard box. I turned back to my family, who all smiled invitingly at me.

I lifted the top of the box and pulled out a single slip of paper with tiny words printed on it. It was an airplane ticket. To _London!_

I screamed. "LONDON!"

Carlisle laughed. Ever since he'd told me stories of London and how magical Britain was, I'd wanted to go. Now I couldn't believe my eyes. "Thank you!" I yelled, throwing my arms around him and Esme.

"You're welcome, Nessie. Did you see the date on the ticket?" Carlisle said.

I pulled away from them to peer more closely at the ticket. The date for the flight was September the eleventh. "You can't be serious. _Tomorrow?" _I could only stare stupidly at them.

"Pack quickly," Alice advised. "The flight's at nine in the morning."

"Who's all going?" I clutched the little piece of paper as if my life depended on it.

"Everyone," said Dad.

"Jake, too?"

"Yes." He looked as if he wished he could say no.

"Oh, Jake!" I hugged him for the hundredth time today.

"Whoa, calm down, Nessie," he chuckled throatily. "Save that for when we're alone."

Emmett wolf-whistled. Now it was his turn to receive a glare from Dad.

The doorbell rang, probably distracting Dad from his thoughts of killing Emmett. Carlisle went over and opened it to reveal Charlie and his wife of five years, Sue. "Hey, guys," Charlie said as we all looked around the corner at him. "Is it too early for the party?"

"No, of course not," Carlisle said respectfully, stepping aside so he and Sue could walk in. "Would you like some cake?"

"If you don't mind." Charlie sat down on the couch with Sue and handed me a bag. "Happy birthday, Ness."

"Thank you, Grandpa." He hadn't bothered to wrap the present. I peered inside the bag to see an…umbrella? I raised one eyebrow at him.

"I heard about the London trip," Charlie elucidated. "It rains a lot there too, so you'll need the umbrella."

"Oh." I smirked. "Tasteful joke."

"I got you something too," Sue said quietly, handing me a tissue-wrapped object. I was surprised. Sue only came to the Cullens' house because of Charlie and Jacob; I was sure she wouldn't spend any extra money on _me. _She had never before.

I unwrapped the paper to find a thick wool purple sweater. "I knitted it myself," Sue said. "I felt bad about never giving you a present before, so…happy birthday."

"Thanks, Sue," I said, stroking the soft material. "I'll wear it when we leave tomorrow."

She smiled thinly. "I'm glad you appreciate it."

The doorbell rang again. This time Mom went over to open it. Leah and Seth had arrived.

Of course, Leah had the customary scowl on her face. But I wouldn't let her ruin my birthday.

Seth was the eternal optimist, of course. He had his arm around his fiancée, Mariana. He'd imprinted on her a couple of years ago, which made Leah even angrier because she still hadn't imprinted on someone yet.

"Hi, Nessie!" he said happily, darting forward to hug me. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Seth," I said.

"Sorry we didn't get you a present," Mariana said. "But we hoped our presence would be sufficient enough."

I laughed. "Thanks, Mari."

Mariana was my best friend aside from Jacob. We'd gone to school together in La Push.

"I'll get you a present soon enough," she promised, hugging me as well.

"That's okay."

"Come on!" Alice said, pushing us forward into the crowd. "Let's get this party on the road!"

"Oh, Alice—"

"No complaining!" she ordered me. "You're the birthday girl, so you and Jacob get to dance to the first song!"

"What is this, my wedding?" I groaned.

"You wish, Nessie," Jake said as Alice turned on the CD player. An upbeat melody filled the room.

I hated dancing, but I comforted myself by repeating the words _I'm going to London tomorrow, I'm going to London tomorrow, I'm going to London tomorrow…_over and over in my head until I didn't really mind the dancing at all.

And I was with my Jacob. That had to count for something, didn't it?


	3. Runaways and Discoveries

**This is a rather long chapter, but a lot happens in it. For all of you who are reading this just because of the Harry Potter-verse in this, rest assured it's introduced in this chapter.**

**On a side note, OMG! Have you guys seen the videos of the filming of the DH epilogue at King's Cross? All the kids are so cute, and most of them are exactly how I pictured them. The only two that are a bit different are Al and James, but they make up for that. ^^**

* * *

"Time to wake up, Nessie!" Mom stuck her head in the room at precisely six o'clock the next morning.

I groaned and pulled the pillow over my head. My party had gone on until nearly midnight, and I'd finally collapsed into bed at one AM.

"Mom," I slurred, "I only had five hours of sleep last night. Ten more minutes, _please_?"

"No, sorry, honey." I heard her walk across the room and open the curtains. Sunshine—wow—blinded my eyes, even though they were tightly shut. "We're leaving in an hour. Alice has already packed for you, but I'm assuming you want to eat before we go to the airport."

Oh, yeah! I'd almost completely forgotten about London. My energy refreshed, I leaped out of bed. "Are the others packed too?"

"All except for Rosalie." Mom chortled.

No surprise there. I quickly dressed into jeans and the sweater Sue had given me before going downstairs to where Mom handed me a bowl of cereal. "Esme brought this over earlier," she said. "I know you don't like human food, but we don't have time to go hunting. Hopefully there will be a larger variety of animals in England."

Even though the cereal tasted like dirt and mush, I choked it down anyway. Since my family didn't go hunting all the time, I needed to eat human food twice a day to keep my energy up.

"Jacob's here," Dad said from where he sat at the couch. A second later, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in, Jacob!" Mom called. The door opened and a beaming Jake walked in.

"Hey, Nessie," he said excitedly, kissing me on the top of the head. "You ready to leave?"

"Yeah," I said, grimacing as the last bit of cereal slid down my throat. "Why are you so excited?"

"He hasn't really been out of Washington." Dad answered for him, reading his thoughts. "The farthest he's ever gone is San Francisco for your seventh birthday party."

Jake looked daggers at him. "Get out of my head, Edward!"

"Believe me, I'd like to," Dad said dangerously. "But it's rather hard to ignore your little fantasies about my daughter."

I felt myself blushing. Was Jacob really thinking about me that way?

"I wasn't!" he protested. "I was just—"

"Don't lie to me, Jacob," Dad hissed. "I saw—"

Just then, the front door swung open and Alice skipped in. "I had a vision that Jacob would need saving, so I decided to step in to help," she said, placing her tiny frame between Dad and Jake. "Anyway, if Nessie's ready, everyone's already in the cars."

"Good," Dad said, wrapping an arm protectively around me. "I'll ride with Nessie and Bella."

"And Jacob too, sorry," Alice said apologetically. "You, Bella, Nessie, and Jacob are riding in the Aston Martin and the rest of us are taking Carlisle's Mercedes."

Dad sighed in defeat. "If I hear you thinking about my daughter that way again, you will have to find a way to get to London yourself. Do you hear me?"

I could tell Jake was itching to roll his eyes, but he held it in. "Yes," he said gruffly.

"Let's go, come on!" Alice said impatiently as we moved toward the front door. "We don't want to miss our flight!"

"Can Nessie ride on my back?" Jacob asked as we stepped outside into the already-sunny forest and the three of them exploded into sparkles.

Dad shot him a warning look.

"I meant when I transform," he said quickly. "Just because she can't run as fast as the rest of us."

"I can so," I said hotly.

"No you can't. You always lose at races."

"Jake! Nessie!" Mom stepped forward. "Stop bickering. Sorry, Nessie, but I think Jake is right. It'll just go faster if he transforms into a werewolf and you get on his back."

"It's all of a ten-minute walk to the main house—"

But my mother's look quelled me into silence.

Jake gave me a smug grin before changing into the giant russet wolf. I clambered onto his back while Dad took my suitcases.

I loved running, but it was always fun, I had to admit, when I was riding Jake's wolf-form. He could run near as fast as the full vampires and I loved the feel of the wind rushing through my hair.

We streaked through the forest, Dad, Mom and Alice on either side of Jake and I as we wove through the trees and around the side of the white mansion. Carlisle's Mercedes was parked in the driveway, with Dad's Aston Martin beside it.

Esme spotted us first as she carried a suitcase to the Mercedes. "Ready?" she said.

Dad nodded as we stopped in the middle of the lawn. "I'll go put the suitcases in the car," he said to Mom.

She nodded and I slid off Jacob's back. He turned back into a human (he'd learned to transform while still keeping his clothes on) and took my hand as we sidled toward the cars. "Where are the others?" he asked Alice. "I thought you said they were already in the cars."

"They were," she answered. "But it seems Emmett and Jasper wanted to have an arm-wrestling contest before we left." She rolled her eyes.

I smiled. Sometimes my uncles were more immature than I was.

Ten minutes later, Alice had rounded up Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie. Dad, Mom, Jake and I were sitting in the Aston Martin while the others climbed into the Mercedes. I glanced at my watch; it was almost six forty-five. "Come on, Dad," I said to him. "We'll be late at this rate."

"No, we won't," he assured me. "Alice had a vision. We'll get there at eight-thirty exactly."

He turned out to be right. Just under two hours later, we pulled into Sea-Tac International Airport. I'd slept for most of the ride, Jake's arm around me. I didn't need Jasper's ability to sense Dad's relief when he parked the car. He didn't approve of me and Jacob, but since I was Jake's "imprintee", he had no choice but to let us date. I didn't want to be the one to tell him when we got engaged someday.

The humans stared at us as we got out of the cars and picked up our suitcases. It was overcast and cloudy here; a lucky thing. I wasn't sure what would happen if it was sunny…what if it was sunny in London? Would we have to wait in the airport until it started raining?

"No," Dad said, startling me. "We'd just wear heavy cloaks."

Mom gave him a quizzical look as we stepped inside the cool, air-conditioned terminal.

"Nessie was just wondering what we would do if it was sunny when we got to London," he said.

"Don't worry," Alice, who was behind, us, said. "It won't be."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Do you want to bet?" she replied. "It's going to be raining. And you're going to almost lose your iPod in Heathrow but you'll find it just before we leave."

"Where will it be?" I challenged.

"On the international counter," Alice said, her eyes glazing over. "Luckily, nobody will take it."

I decided to mess with her visions, as I often did, and not take out my iPod for the duration of the flight.

However, I was itching for it the second we took off.

"It's all right, Nessie," Alice said from where she and Jasper were sitting, across the aisle from me and Jake. "You can take it out now. You're going to take it out sometime, so why not now? "

I grudgingly did, vowing not to let go of it until we reached our hotel.

* * *

The flight to England was long and tiring, but I went from listening to music to reading my new books to sleeping. The others spoke in low voices about what we were going to do once we landed. Apparently Alice's visions were fluctuating from us going to our hotel first or to us sightseeing first. (Since none of us needed sleep except for me, we could safely explore at three AM.)

I was asleep when we finally touched down on English soil. It was a nine-hour flight and though it was six o'clock in the evening back in Forks, it was three in the morning here.

Light rain splattered the plane's windows as it slowly rolled into its gateway.

Of course, I had forgotten all about my iPod as we walked into Heathrow, and once we were standing at the entrance to the airport, Alice turned to me with a smug look. "Shall you go get your iPod now?"

I gave a start as I realized I _had _left it on the international counter, just as Alice had said I would.

Emmett roared with laughter when he saw my face.

"You have a lot to learn, Nessie," Jasper said gently. "You can't outsmart Alice that easily."

My irritation dissolved into calm. Sighing, I strode back to the counter, plucked my iPod from where it lay unnoticed, and stalked back to them, not meeting Alice's eyes.

She laughed delicately as we left the airport. "I'm sorry, Nessie," she said, slinging her arm over my shoulders. "I didn't mean to annoy you."

"I'm not annoyed," I mumbled.

"Yes you are," Jasper smiled, sending another wave of tranquility over me. I couldn't help but relax.

"I've called a taxi," Carlisle said as we stepped outside into the light mist. "It should arrive soon." His eyes were bright, excited. I wondered how it must feel to be in your hometown again, three hundred years or so after you'd last seen it. Though I was sure he'd come back here before.

Jake squeezed my hand as he looked around the airport parking lot. Even though it was so early in the morning, there were still plenty of people milling about. I listened to their strange British accents with interest. They sounded so much formal than Americans.

Meanwhile, Rosalie and Emmett were kissing under an overhang. I raised my eyebrows. They'd had seventy years to do that. Were the urges still as strong?

"Don't get any ideas, Jacob," Dad said darkly from where he was whispering with Mom.

Jake growled under his breath, for a second sounding like the wolf he was. "I've had enough," he whispered to me. "We're leaving, Nessie."

"What?" I said at the same time Alice gasped and whirled around to us.

"No, Jacob, don't!" she cried. Rosalie and Emmett broke apart to stare at us.

Jasper was at her side in an instant. "What did you see, Alice?" he growled.

She didn't answer, only staring horrified at us.

"Crap!" Jacob swore. "Run, Nessie!"

"Where are you—" I began, but didn't get to finish my sentence because Jacob pulled me along, away from the family and down the airport walkway.

I wasn't sure if they were following us, but we ran flat-out across the sidewalk and through the parking lot of the airport. I struggled to keep up with Jake, yelling, "Jake! Where are we going?"

He didn't answer me. We rounded the corner and Jacob abruptly turned around and swept me up in his arms, throwing me onto his back. "Jake!" I screamed, not caring who heard me.

"Hold on, Ness!" He yelled back, running like mad as I squeezed my eyes shut and held onto him as hard as I could.

The cold wind, mixed with rain, pelted my face and hair as he sprinted down the streets of London. I couldn't see properly, only flashes of buildings and cars as we passed them. I could hear no pursuit behind us and there were no vampire scents around here, only unfamiliar human. The humans that _were _out at this ungodly hour literally stopped to stare at us, a huge man carrying a teenager on his back.

I was so confused. Everything had happened so fast. First we were waiting for the taxi, now Jacob was running through London like a maniac with me. I supposed that he had gotten annoyed when Dad had told him off and he was rebelling to get away with me.

I sensed a note of exhilaration in his run; something pleased him. "Jacob!" I yelled into his ear. "Where are you taking us?"

"You'll see!" he called back, abruptly swerving into a tight alley. I choked back a scream and shut my eyes again.

I was frozen stiff when he finally stopped, breathing heavily. "You can climb off now, Nessie," he panted.

I let go of him and fell to the ground, landing heavily on my backside. Jake helped me up and I stared around us. "Why did you take us _here_?" I asked, trying not to sound disgusted.

We were standing in the middle of what was obviously a very poor street. The houses were all mashed up together as if trying to conserve space and had no driveways to speak of. The windows were tiny and a few of the houses didn't even _have _them.

"You know, to tell you the truth, I had no clue where we were going," Jake said ruefully. "I was getting tired, so I stopped here. Sorry, Ness."

I smoothed down my hair and bit my lip. "So what you're saying is, we're lost and you don't even know how to get back to the airport. The others are probably worried sick! Sometimes you're very childish, Jake."

He was immediately on the defensive. "The pixie will know where we are, don't worry. She'll have seen where we went. And I _had _to get away from Edward! He's always in my head. I never get any privacy."

"Try _living _with him," I muttered, patting my pocket to make sure my iPod was still in there. "You really need to control your temper."

"I can't help it!" he objected loudly.

"Shush!" I put my finger to my lips. I had seen movement farther down the square. "I think there's someone there."

Jake squinted through the rain. "It looks like a woman," he muttered.

He was right. A tall human woman, dressed in a tartan cloak, was striding down the road.

She wore glasses and her black hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Her face was severe and I had the immediate impression that she wasn't one to mess with.

"Maybe she can tell us where we are," I said, taking a step forward, but Jacob grabbed the back of my sweater to hold me back. "I think she heard us," he whispered.

Indeed she had. She stopped in her tracks and her head turned towards us.

I wrenched free of Jake and strode forward. "Hello," I said gently, not wanting to scare her. I hoped she wouldn't be disconcerted by my abnormally pale skin…or my beauty. Humans were normally startled when they first saw us.

The woman inclined her head slightly towards me. She looked wary yet confident. I was interested in her almost self-assured expression.

"We were just wondering if you could tell us where we are," I said. "We're not sure what part of town we're in. We're lost, you see."

"Yeah," Jacob said, coming up beside me. "We're Americans."

The woman's thin eyebrows raised. "This is Grimmauld Place."

"Grim old place?" Jacob said. "That sounds about right."

"Excuse me?" the woman asked.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"Would you happen to know the way back to Heathrow Airport?" I asked, discreetly elbowing Jake in the ribs.

"No, I'm afraid not," the woman said. "I don't go there often, you see."

"Oh. That's all right," I said.

"These humans don't know a thing—" Jake said, too loudly.

"Jacob!" I said. "Shut up!"

"Crap! Sorry!" he said quickly, clapping a hand over his mouth.

But it was too late. The woman had turned back towards us. "Pardon?" she asked.

"It's nothing, madam," I said, trying to cover Jake's slip up.

"Did you just say _these humans_?" she asked, staring closely at us. "Does this mean you're not human?"

"I am," Jake said. "Well, mostly."

"Oh, God," I mumbled. He'd ruined the secret. What would Dad have to say to this?

"Mostly?" the woman pressed.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm his…sister. He just got out of the hospital—"

"Shut it, Nessie," Jacob said. He turned to the woman while I gaped. "I'm Jacob Black, and this is my girlfriend Renesmee Cullen, but you can call her Nessie."

"I'm Minerva McGonagall," said the strange woman. "I'm a professor at a…special school up in Scotland."

"We live in Forks, Washington, but we came to London for Nessie's eleventh birthday," Jake said, digging us into an even deeper hole.

Minerva McGonagall looked startled. "_Eleventh _birthday?" she asked incredulously.

"I look eighteen, but I'm really eleven," I said, giving up.

McGonagall looked as if she was questioning our sanity.

"You're human, aren't you?" I asked. "It's really too bad we're going to have to…dispose of you later."

McGonagall took a step back. "What do you mean?" she asked, sticking her hand into her pocket as if about to take something out.

"You see, Mrs. McGonagall, my family and I…we're special," I said.

"So am I," Jacob piped up. We ignored him.

"Special, you say?" she asked. "How?"

"I'm…I'm half-human, half-vampire," I said.

"Half-human…?" McGonagall turned white. "But that's not possible!"

"Oh yes it is," I said darkly. "Because my family are vampires. My father, who is a full vampire, impregnated my human mother and she had me."

To my _extreme _surprise, McGonagall's face relaxed. "Oh," she said. "Well, that explains it."

"Huh?" I asked.

"Little is known about vampires," she said. "So that's interesting. A male vampire is able to impregnate female humans. I shall have to tell the Minister…" she mused.

"Wait—_what?_" I was completely confused.

"But you don't look like a vampire, even a half-human one," McGonagall said, looking closely at me. "You're too…beautiful. Vampires aren't supposed to have that degree of beauty…"

"Can you _please _explain to us what is going on?" Jacob demanded.

McGonagall turned to him. "Why would you need explanation about the magical world?"

My jaw dropped. "_M-magical world?"_

"Yes, magical world," McGonagall said. "You mean you don't know? Vampires have lived with us for thousands of years—"

"NESSIE! JACOB! STOP!" A voice screamed from somewhere behind us. Jake and I whirled around to see Alice, closely followed by the others, walking at a fast human pace towards us.

"Alice!" I said gratefully, rushing towards them. "Can you please explain to us what's happening?"

"Don't listen to her, Nessie!" Alice said shrilly. "Get away! She's a witch!"

"A _witch_?" nine different voices yelled.

"Witches don't exist!" Rosalie yelled.

McGonagall, whose eyes were widening by the second, pulled something out of her pocket as if brandishing a gun.

It was a slim black stick, almost like a—

"Wand?" Dad said, striding forward. "She has a _wand_?"

"Oh, snap!" Emmett yelled. "Looks like the vampires have some competition!"


	4. Grimmauld Place

We all ignored Emmett, staring at Alice as if we'd just seen a ghost.

"A—a witch?" Mom asked. I noticed she took a step closer to Dad. "But that's—that's not possible."

Alice smiled humorlessly. "Yes it is. It seems that we vampires are…quite ignorant to other supernatural beings."

"Edward?" Carlisle asked, turning towards him.

Dad nodded infinitesimally. He was staring at McGonagall, who looked completely bemused. She was still pointing the wand at each one of us in turn. "Explain yourselves!" she commanded.

"We're a different breed of vampire than the…_traditional _sort," Dad explained, stepping forward. McGonagall turned her wand on him. "Don't worry, we won't attack."

"Traditional sort?" Rosalie asked disbelievingly.

"We're not the only breed of vampire that exists," Dad said. I noticed his eyes were wide, presumably from the sheer amount of new information that he was getting from McGonagall.

"There are different _breeds_?" Emmett asked excitedly. "I wonder how well they'd do in a fight." He flexed his impressive muscles. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Would you mind very greatly if we go inside?" Alice asked, darting forward. "Harry and Ginny will be fine with it."

Surprise flitted across McGonagall's face. "How did you know?"

Alice just smiled furtively.

"I think I'd better check with them first," McGonagall said, slowly edging away as if afraid to turn her back on us.

"Dad!" I hissed, tugging on his sleeve. "What's going on?"

He grinned down at me. "How would you feel if I told you all your beliefs were about to change?"

I blinked. "Well, it depends on what those beliefs are, I guess."

"Your beliefs on magic. And ghosts. And…just about anything realistic, I'd say."

I didn't have an answer to that. Magic actually _existed_? Not just the "magic" of friendship and love and all that, but actual magic?

"Very impressive magic, too," Dad commented. "We're lucky we came during a peacetime of sorts."

"Edward!" Mom hissed angrily. "Stop being mysterious and tell us what's happening!"

Dad smiled at her. "Sorry, love. But there's too much to explain—I'll let McGonagall clarify everything later."

"Why is everyone so damn _calm _about this?" Jacob suddenly exploded. We all turned, stunned, to him. "We just discovered magic exists! Shouldn't we be _scared_?"

"No," Alice said. "They don't mean any harm, McGonagall at least."

"But what if they have some powerful spell that can kill us?" Jacob wrapped an arm protectively around me as he spoke.

"The Avada Kedavra _might_," Dad said thoughtfully. "But from what I read in McGonagall's mind, there don't seem to be any extremely powerful spells that the average wizard can do…"

He continued talking, but no one was listening. We were all staring at the entrance to number twelve, where I could see McGonagall talking to a black-haired man with glasses. After a moment, she turned to us and beckoned.

Dad and Alice immediately started towards her, whereas the rest of us followed more cautiously. Perhaps the reason none of us put up more of a fight was because of Jasper repeatedly sending waves of calm over us.

McGonagall and the black-haired man had disappeared inside the house when we finally crowded into it.

The entrance was a long, dark hallway. Someone had obviously tried to make the hall more cheerful, but to no extent. Everything was painted black and portraits lined the walls. Up ahead, I could see a winding staircase that was just as old and peeling as the rest of the hallway. I could hear Rosalie's groan of disgust as she stepped inside.

"Nice place," Emmett chuckled. "All it needs is a prison cell or two."

McGonagall appeared out of a door on the right side of the hall. "Come," she said. We all shuffled down the narrow hallway towards her.

I was looking at the portraits on the walls when I saw something that nearly made my heart stop. "MOM! DAD!" I shrieked, jumping back into Rosalie.

"What is it, Nessie?" Mom asked worriedly, hurrying over to me.

"THAT PICTURE JUST MOVED!" I screamed, staring horrified at it. A young man was sitting at a desk, and, as we watched, he got up and walked out of the frame.

"What kind of sick house is this?" Rosalie moaned.

"Don't be scared," McGonagall said, who, astoundingly, looked like she was trying not to laugh. "Our pictures move—that is, pictures in the wizarding world."

"_Wizarding world_?" I mouthed to Dad. He smiled reassuringly at me.

"Mummy! Daddy!" a child's voice yelled. We all turned to the stairs and saw a red-haired blur come streaking down the stairs and stop in front of us.

It was a little girl, maybe nine years old. She had long red hair and hazel eyes, which looked terrified as soon as they saw us.

"Lily, what are you doing up?" a man's voice said, and the black-haired man who had been talking to McGonagall came out of the kitchen and scooped her up in his arms. "Mummy and Daddy have guests."

"At three in the morning?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Yes. Now go back to bed," the man said firmly, putting her back down. She shot one more scared glance at us before hurrying back up the stairs.

"That was my daughter, Lily," the man said, looking at all of us with a slightly thunderstruck expression. "I'm Harry Potter."

"I'm Carlisle Cullen," Carlisle said, stepping forward. "This is my wife, Esme, and my adoptive children Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rosalie, Edward, Bella, Renesmee, and Jacob." He introduced each one of us in turn. I noticed how he included Jacob in his "adoptive children."

"You're vampires, then?" Harry Potter asked.

Carlisle nodded. "We call ourselves vegetarians, though. We don't drink human blood, only animals."

"Really?" Harry asked, looking interested. "I've never heard of vampires who did that before."

"We seem to be a different breed of vampire," Carlisle said, looking back at Dad. "And Renesmee is half-human, half-vampire."

Harry looked even more interested. "How old is she?"

"Eleven but I look eighteen," I said shyly.

"Wow," Harry said. "So you grow fast, then?"

"I did. I stopped growing four years ago."

Harry looked about to say something, but Carlisle interrupted him. "We'll explain everything later, so that's enough about us. What about you?"

Harry led us into a kitchen where a long wooden table made up the bulk of the room. We all took seats around it, looking uneasy while he explained. "Wizards and witches have been living for thousands of years, all over the world. There's just a large population of them in Britain. We try to co-exist with Muggles—non-magical people—in harmony, but once in a while there are wizards who think Muggles should be killed. But that's a different story. Anyway, the basic information is that we're, well, wizards." He shrugged, seeming unsure of what to say.

"What kind of magic can you do?" Mom asked.

Harry grinned. I noticed he had a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. "Watch," he said, and pulled out his wand. He pointed it at a spoon lying on the table and muttered something under his breath.

The spoon slowly began to rise and drift over to the table, where it fell with a clatter upon the wood. But Harry wasn't done yet. He muttered something else under his breath and suddenly, the spoon wasn't there anymore. In its place was a small white mouse, who squeaked and then instantly changed into a crow, which then changed back into a spoon.

A smile spread across Carlisle's face. "Amazing," he whispered.

"That's nothing, though," said Harry. "Any wizard can do that. There are many branches of magic, each of which would take me years—literally—to explain."

A woman poked her head into the room. "We have guests, I see," she said dryly. "An excellent time."

"Sorry, Ginny," said Harry. "But they don't know anything about us."

"You mean they're Muggles?"

"No. Vampires," said Harry. A look of realization instantly dawned upon Ginny's face.

"Oh," she said. "A new breed?"

"Yeah. We might have just made a new discovery." Harry looked at the ten of us.

"But I'm not a vampire," Jacob said, seeming put out.

"What are you, then?" Ginny asked.

"A werewolf," he said.

Harry's eyes widened. "A werewolf?"

"Well, not really," Jake admitted. "I'm a shapeshifter that can take the form of a gigantic wolf. We just call it a werewolf."

"Do you need a full moon?" McGonagall, who hadn't spoken all this time, asked.

"No," said Jake, chuckling a little. "Nor can we be killed by silver bullets. We're immortal."

The change in the air was almost palpable. Harry, Ginny and McGonagall all stiffened and stared at him.

Jake looked surprised. "What? We all are."

"_All _of you?" McGonagall asked, who had regained her composure the quickest.

"Yes," said Carlisle. "I, as the oldest, was born in the 1640s, but I know some vampires who are over a thousand years old."

The three of them looked absolutely dumbfounded.

"Thank bloody Merlin they didn't come nineteen years ago," Harry said fervently.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dad give a slight shudder. I wondered why, then decided that I didn't really want to know.

"Have you told them about Hogwarts yet?" Ginny asked, changing the subject.

"Oh yeah," Harry said, shaking himself out of whatever dark thoughts were troubling him. "Wizards and witches can send their magical children to boarding school. There are many of them all around the world. The one here in Britain is called Hogwarts, and it's in Scotland. It's where Professor McGonagall teaches."

"Sounds interesting," said Alice. "Can we go?"

Harry, Ginny, and McGonagall gaped. "You're not magical, though," McGonagall pointed out. "You have to be magical to go there."

"We're magic enough," Dad said.

"How?" Harry asked.

"I can read minds," Dad said.

McGonagall scoffed. "That's impossible!"

"Really?" Dad asked lightly. "Shall I consult, say, Professor Snape?"

"Yes, please do," Harry mumbled.

"The only thing closest to reading minds is Occlumency," McGonagall protested. "And even that's not always—"

"You're not good at Occlumency, though, Minerva," Dad said. "I can read your mind, right now. How do you think I know who Professor Snape is?"

"Someone told you!" McGonagall said.

"You fancied Albus Dumbledore when you first met him seventy-two years ago," Dad said calmly. "You've never told anyone else. Oh, and you were the only other one, apart from Dumbledore, who knew that Professor Snape was on the side of good all along because of his love for Lily Evans."

For once, McGonagall had no words.

"And you," Dad said, turning to Harry, "You hoped all along that Albus would be in Slytherin so that you could prove that Slytherins weren't all pure-blooded bigots."

Harry looked just as stunned as McGonagall.

"And you, Ginny, you hope that Lily will be in Ravenclaw once she goes to Hogwarts, just so you can prove that not all Potters and Weasleys are Gryffindors," Dad continued. He smiled smugly at the look on their faces. "I told you. I can read every single astonished thought that is passing through your minds this very moment."

"Does…does anyone else in your family have powers?" McGonagall asked weakly.

"I can manipulate emotions," Jasper said. He sent a rush of excitement over us, then calmed us down.

"Interesting," Harry said, looking thoughtfully at him. "That would be useful in a battle."

"I can see the future," Alice piped up. McGonagall looked at her warily. "Prove it," she commanded.

"Well, in five seconds Lily will call for Ginny because she can't sleep," Alice said, her eyes unfocused.

Sure enough, almost as soon as she had finished a voice yelled, "Mum! I can't sleep!"

I wondered if the amazed expressions on McGonagall's, Harry's, and Ginny's faces would be there permanently.

"Much better than Professor Trelawney, isn't she?" Dad asked McGonagall politely.

"Oh, and in a second Harry will drop the cup he's holding." Alice smiled.

Everyone turned to Harry, who in his uneasiness, _did _drop the cup. It shattered into a million pieces on the floor.

"_Reparo_," he muttered and the cup instantly repaired itself. My eyes widened.

"And Nessie—Renesmee—can project her thoughts onto another person," Alice added. "It's a very useful gift. Anyway, will you let us go to Hogwarts, just for a few days? Please?" She flashed her award-winning smile at McGonagall.

"I'd say yes, Minerva," Ginny said after a few moments. "They don't seem very harmful."

Harry nodded in agreement.

"You have our word of honor we won't hunt on the grounds," Carlisle said sincerely.

"Well, there've been vampires in Hogwarts before," McGonagall said. "And we _do _allow the occasional werewolf…I suppose it'll be all right. Just for a couple of days, though."

"Yay!" Alice clapped. Moving at vampire speed, she jumped up and hugged a very bewildered McGonagall. "Thank you!"

"We're going to Hogwarts," Dad said to me. "Does that sound exciting, Ness?"

"Yeah," I agreed. Too bad I barely even knew what Hogwarts was. Oh well. I supposed I'd know soon enough.


	5. Hogwarts

**One of the things that has always annoyed me about this part of the story is how quickly I made the vampires and wizards accept each other. I mean, the Cullens have been so used to thinking that they're the "best of the best", being vampires and all. So learning that there is a whole magical world out there can't be easy on them. The same could be said for the wizards. Even though they'd be more used to vampires, werewolves and such, learning that they're immortal can't be easy. I'll admit that I rewrote this part of the story many times over, but finally decided to leave it as it was when I first wrote it. So if you guys could have a little suspension of disbelief that would be great. ^.^ I didn't want to spend ten chapters on the Cullens and the wizards explaining about each other.**

**I doubt anyone actually read my rant, so on with the story!**

* * *

"But Daddy, _why _can't I go to Hogwarts?" Lily whined, tugging on her father's sleeve.

"I've told you many times, Lily, you're too young. In two years you'll be able to go." Harry looked as if he was tired of having this conversation.

"_They _get to go, though!" Lily pointed an accusing finger at us.

"They're old enough to go, though, sweetie," Harry replied. "And they'll only be going for a week or two."

"Still…" Lily trailed off and crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Was I ever like that?" I whispered to Dad.

"Worse," he whispered back. I looked quickly up at him and saw, to my relief, that he was grinning.

"Is everyone packed yet?" Alice chirped, dancing into the kitchen.

"Yeah," I said, stuffing my suitcase into her arms. "How are we getting to Hogwarts, anyway?"

"Apparating," Alice said.

"What's—" I began.

"You'll find out soon enough." She winked at me.

We'd been staying at Grimmauld Place for two days. Luckily Harry and Ginny had two extra rooms because their older sons were already at Hogwarts.

During the two days, they'd tried to cram as much magical knowledge into our heads as possible. Everyone was fascinated, except Jake, who was bored. According to him, he just wanted to come to London for a vacation, not "discover there was a whole new freaking world none of us knew about." Eloquently put, Jake.

In fact, I was actually kind of glad we'd discovered Grimmauld Place and learned about the wizarding world. It was definitely one of my more exciting birthdays.

Because we couldn't do magic (to the extent wizards could, at least) McGonagall explained that we wouldn't be able to actually partake in the lessons. "You'll have to settle for just observing," she said.

"Whoop-de-doo," Jake muttered. I poked him in the ribs.

And, to my surprise, our families got on pretty well. Harry and Ginny were remarkably nonchalant about having us in the house. I supposed it was the same kind of nonchalant that allowed me to put up with the portraits in the hallway screaming at innocent bystanders (i.e. me.)

So that was how I found myself standing in the kitchen, waiting for McGonagall to "Apparate" us all to Hogwarts.

Whatever that meant. She'd probably produce a flying carpet and make us all ride on it, Aladdin-style. Or else that might be a fancy word for walking. Harry and Ginny hadn't told us what Apparating meant.

There was a knock at the front door and Harry went to open it. "They're ready, Professor," he said.

Alice, who for some bizarre reason seemed to have developed a liking for the old witch, flitted out into the hall. "Hey, Minerva!" I heard her exclaim. "Come on, guys!" she called back to us.

We all dragged our suitcases down the hallway, being careful not to wake the portraits, and stepped outside into another gray, cloudy day. It was almost like we had never left Forks.

"Is that everything?" McGonagall asked, raising a thin eyebrow at the five bags Rosalie carried.

"I think so," Esme said, quickly counting heads. "Everyone's here."

Harry and Ginny stood on the front step with a tearful Lily while McGonagall performed some sort of spell that brought all the bags zooming towards her. Then she waved her wand again and the bags disappeared.

"Whoa!" Emmett exclaimed.

"Where'd they go?" Rosalie asked with a tinge of annoyance. "I have important things in there, you know!"

"I sent them to Hogwarts," McGonagall said crisply. Her apparent dislike of Rosalie often made her short-tempered. "I assure you, they'll be perfectly safe. Now, who wants to go first?"

"I will!" Alice said eagerly, dancing forward to grab McGonagall's arm.

"Very well. Whatever you do, don't let go of my arm," McGonagall said. Abruptly, she turned and there was a loud _crack _as McGonagall and Alice both disappeared.

Emmett, Jasper and Jake swore loudly. "Where did they go?" Jasper asked, whirling around to Harry and Ginny.

"Hogwarts," Ginny said, a small smile on her lips. "Don't worry, McGonagall will be back any second now."

Sure enough, there was another loud _crack _and McGonagall reappeared, unruffled. "Who next?" she asked unsympathetically.

"I will," Jasper said cautiously. He took hold of her arm and they, too, disappeared.

This happened one by one; McGonagall Apparating with someone to Hogwarts and then Apparating back to get us. Finally, Jake and I were the only ones left in the square. When McGonagall reappeared after bringing Mom, Jake and I stared at each other nervously.

"Well, hurry up," McGonagall said after a few seconds of silence. "I don't have all day."

"I'll go," I said, bravely. Ginny and Harry both smiled encouragingly as I grasped McGonagall's arm and shut my eyes tight. I wasn't at all sure of what this would feel like.

Suddenly, I was jerked off my feet and spinning around in circles. My entire body was being pressed together and surely I would be crushed in a second—

Just as I couldn't bear it any longer, the feeling stopped and I was standing once again, in an entirely different place from the one I had left. Not bothering to look around, I stumbled forward, gasping, into Dad's arms.

"Not very pleasant, is it?" he smiled.

"No," I panted. I would never—_never_—Apparate again.

"Here's something to take your mind off it, Nessie," Alice chirped into my ear, gently spinning me around. "This is Hogwarts."

It took me a few seconds for my eyes to focus, and then when they did, my jaw dropped.

I hadn't known _exactly _what Hogwarts was—I'd pictured it similar to Forks High School or La Push's high school. But I had definitely not been expecting a castle.

"Wow," was all I could say.

An enormous castle, the biggest one I'd ever seen, with endless turrets and towers loomed in front of us. Lights blazed from the windows and cast dancing shadows on the small lake. It was amazing.

"Can you believe we're going to be living there for the next few months?" Alice asked in wonder.

"Next few _months_?" I asked.

She nodded. "I had a vision. We're going to prolong our stay! Isn't that exciting?" She looked ready to clap her hands.

"But—" I began.

"No buts, Nessie! We're staying here and you're going to _enjoy_ it!" She looked irritated I was spoiling her fun.

I was about to retort, but just then the familiar _crack _sounded and McGonagall and Jacob appeared. Jake was swearing at the top of his lungs. "That was horrible!" he complained. "I felt like I was being crushed!"

I smiled grimly. "Join the club."

"We're staying here for, like, two days and then we're _leaving_! I'm not going on any—what the hell?" He'd spotted the castle.

McGonagall looked coldly at him. "I do not tolerate such language in my school."

"_Your _school?"

"I'm the Headmistress," she said curtly. "And I reserve the right to expel you if you're caught in major wrongdoings—"

"How can I get expelled? We're only staying here for a few days!" Jake looked indignant.

"More like a few months!" Alice sang, slinging her arm around Jake's shoulder. "We're staying until the beginning of November."

Jake, obviously, wasn't at all pleased with that news. He sulked all the while McGonagall led us up a long, winding path to the castle's front doors and inside a cavernous entrance hall.

We stopped at the front of a large, elaborate door with designs painted on it. A distinct roar of chatter came from inside the room. McGonagall turned around and faced us.

"This is the Entrance Hall, and the room you are about to enter is the Great Hall. The Great Hall is where you will have all your meals and feasts, presuming you can eat, of course. You will each be Sorted into one of our four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. Your House Prefects will lead you to your common rooms, where your dormitories will be located. You will all be starting in first year, regardless of your age." She looked down at us through her glasses. "Any questions?"

"Yes," Carlisle said, stepping forward. He put an arm around Esme. "As you can see, Esme and I are both plainly too old to attend Hogwarts, much less be first-years! We were talking to Harry and Ginny about this, and they have offered to let us stay at their house while we find temporary jobs."

"So you're leaving?" Rosalie asked.

Carlisle nodded. "We meant to tell you earlier, but there wasn't enough time."

"Do you have to leave?" I asked desperately. Carlisle and Esme wouldn't be here? They'd been such an integral part of my life, it was hard to imagine living without them, even if only for a few months.

Esme smiled gently. "Sorry, sweetie. But we just wouldn't fit here. Anyway, you can always write back to us and tell us how things are going."

"I'll Apparate you back," McGonagall offered.

But Carlisle shook his head. "That's all right. We'll run back to London—we need to hunt, after all, and plus I wanted to show Esme some of the countryside."

"So this is goodbye, then?" Mom asked.

They both laughed. "Bella, you've been a vampire for eleven years and yet you still worry about _time_? It's not as if we're leaving you forever," Esme teased.

"A few months _is _a long time," Mom protested. We ignored her as we all hugged Carlisle and Esme goodbye.

"We'll still keep the promise about not hunting on the grounds," Carlisle said. "I can smell out where the boundary line is."

McGonagall nodded. "Good luck, then."

They smiled at us once more before taking each other's hand and dashing gracefully out the front door.

We watched them go, feeling slightly apprehensive. Carlisle was the leader, the mentor, of the Cullen clan. Without him, we had no one to turn to if things went wrong.

McGonagall cleared her throat as we stood there, lost in our own thoughts. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yes. And they are too." Alice said, indicating the large wooden door.

"All right then." McGonagall turned and pushed open the heavy door with more force than I would have expected of a human her age.

For a second, we all stood there, no one really wanting to go first. I, being the closest to the door, finally sighed and followed her.


	6. The Sorting

The Great Hall was a huge room, even larger than the Entrance Hall, with a ceiling that greatly resembled the night sky and five long tables stretching the length of the Hall. Four of them held the students, all ranging in age from about eleven to seventeen, and the fifth table at the front was obviously the staff table.

As soon as I nervously entered, with the rest of my family right behind me, all heads turned to us. I saw two hundred pairs of jaws drop and an outbreak of chattering filled the room.

I blushed—an unfortunate human trait I had gotten from my mother—and looked down as I followed McGonagall down the length of the tables to a wooden stool positioned right in front of the staff table.

We all huddled in a group, staring confusedly at the stool—which had an old-looking hat on it—while McGonagall unrolled a piece of parchment.

"Silence!" she called. Everyone stopped talking and silence filled the room as soon as she spoke.

"The Cullens are a special family from America," she began. "Normally we do not let students from other countries go to Hogwarts, but the Cullens are an exception. They are non-magical—"

"WHAT?" someone yelled. This served as the basis for a hundred more similar exclamations.

I had to hand it to McGonagall. She just stood there sternly until the talking quelled again before she continued. "They are also vampires."

Nobody exclaimed this time. They all just froze.

"They are a new breed of vampire, one the wizarding world has just discovered. But they are perfectly safe and they will not hunt on these grounds. They do not drink human blood." McGonagall paused before continuing. "However, they will only be staying until early November and I want you all on your best behavior around them." Her eyes fell on the table furthest from where we were. The main color for this table seemed to be green, as everyone was wearing green robes.

"That's the Slytherin table," Dad hissed into my ear. "The blue table is Ravenclaw, the yellow table is Hufflepuff, and the red table is Gryffindor."

I looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw that their robes were the exact same bronze color as my hair.

Now it was Alice's turn to whisper into my ear. "You're Sorted into a house depending on your personality. Ravenclaws are smart, Gryffindors are brave, Hufflepuffs are hard-working and loyal, and Slytherins are cunning and manipulative."

Nice. I glanced over at the Slytherin table. Everyone there looked like they'd just caught a whiff of something bad. I could guess already that they weren't the nicest House.

"Let us begin our mid-term Sorting," McGonagall was saying. She picked up the old hat from the stool. "When I call your name, come sit on the stool and put the hat on."

"Alice!" I whispered urgently. "What are they going to do!"

She grinned devilishly. "You'll see."

Gulping, I turned back to face the front. McGonagall was now consulting the piece of parchment.

"Black, Jacob!" she called.

Jake's russet skin turned an odd shade of green. It was like Christmas.

"Good luck, Jake!" I whispered, squeezing his hand. He squeezed my hand back briefly before clumping over to the stool and sitting down on it. McGonagall dropped the hat on his head.

The hat just sat there. I stifled a snicker. What on earth was going on?

After a few seconds, a rip at the brim of that hat opened and a disembodied voice yelled "GRYFFINDOR!"

I could only stand there shocked as Jake pulled the hat off of his head and handed it to McGonagall, stumbling over to the red-and-gold table. He caught my eye and gave a tiny shrug.

"Cullen, Alice!" McGonagall yelled next.

Alice danced forward and perched on the little stool. McGonagall placed the hat on her head and it slipped down over her face.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted. The yellow table burst into applause as Alice beamed and took a seat at the Hufflepuff table.

"Cullen, Edward!" McGonagall said.

Now it was Dad's turn to stride forward and sit down on the stool. The hat had barely touched his head when it yelled "RAVENCLAW!"

Mom smiled hopefully at him as he went to sit down at the Ravenclaw table. She was probably hoping she'd be in Ravenclaw, too.

"Cullen, Emmett!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Emmett, grinning joyously, ran over to sit next to Alice. I noticed all the people next to him slide over a little bit.

"Cullen, Isabella!"

I smiled confidently at Mom as she sat down. She looked very nervous and shut her eyes.

"RAVENCLAW!"

Her sigh of relief was almost audible as she went to go sit down next to Dad.

Now, it was only me, Rosalie, and Jasper left.

"Cullen, Renesmee!"

I swallowed hard as I started forward on shaking legs. I could feel everybody in the Hall staring at me as I perched gingerly on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on my head and the brim slid over my eyes.

"Well, well, well," I heard a voice say. I jumped. "You're particularly hard to place…it seems you've got talents from all four houses…"

I shut my eyes tightly, praying this would be over soon.

"Impatient, are we? That's a Slytherin trait. You're also ambitious and desperate to prove yourself…Slytherin also. But you're also loyal and hard-working…Hufflepuff. And, hmm—seems you've got a bit of bravery in you too. There's also the potential to be very intelligent…" The hat continued musing, but I wasn't listening to it. I just wanted this to be over.

I wasn't sure how long I was sitting there before the Hat opened its brim again and yelled "GRYFFINDOR!"

The red table applauded as I yanked the Hat off my head and handed it to McGonagall before nearly running over to the Gryffindor table. Jacob smiled at me and quickly kissed me on the top of the forehead. "Welcome to Gryffindor, Ness," he whispered.

I was so relieved at having been put in Jake's house that I almost missed Jasper's sorting.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled.

Jasper sauntered over to the Slytherin table, shooting a look at Alice as he passed by the Hufflepuff table.

Rosalie was the last one to be Sorted. I was sure I knew what House she'd be put in, and I wasn't disappointed—

"SLYTHERIN!"

Rosalie, looking haughty and uncaring, strutted over to the Slytherin table to sit beside Jasper. A large number of the boys had already started drooling.

"So there you have it," McGonagall said, rolling up the piece of parchment, "That concludes our mid-term Sorting. I hope that all of you will not be deceived by appearances, and will be helpful and friendly to the Cullens—"

"And Black," Jacob hissed.

"—Who knows, you might even make a new friend. Anyway, I have some announcements to make…"

She continued talking, but I wasn't listening to her. I was looking at the sea of faces at the Gryffindor table. Most of them were much younger than me, but there were a few—seventh-years, I presumed—that looked around the same age as me. I had to admit, the faces on the Gryffindor table looked much nicer than those at the Slytherin table.

The girl next to me, obviously a first-year, caught me looking at her. She looked alarmed for a second before smiling hesitantly. I grinned back.

McGonagall finished her speech and sat down in her chair at the staff table, and instantly a roar of talk broke out across the Hall as food appeared on all of our plates. Jake stared, stunned, at it for a few seconds, then let out a moan and dived, promptly beginning to stuff his face.


	7. Being in Gryffindor

Looking distastefully away from him, I turned to the girl beside me who'd smiled. She had long red hair, not unlike Lily Potter's, and muddy brown eyes. "Hey," I said shyly to her.

"Hello," she said quietly back. "You're Renesmee Cullen, right?"

I nodded. "Yep. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Rose Weasley." She nibbled delicately on a piece of bread.

"Weasley…That name sounds familiar. Do you by any chance happen to know Harry and Ginny Potter?" I remembered Ginny saying something about the Weasley family.

Rose's face lit up. "They're my aunt and uncle. My dad is Ginny's brother."

"Oh. That explains it." I grinned. "We were staying with them for the past couple of days."

"Yeah. They're nice people." Rose agreed. "Have you met James or Al yet?"

I shook my head.

"They're Lily's older brothers—James is in Gryffindor as well, second year. Al's in first year like us, but he's in Slytherin." Her lip curled slightly.

I noticed her annoyance. "Do you not like him being in Slytherin?"

She nodded. "No. It's weird, because he was all scared of being in Slytherin when we first came, then he actually got sorted into it and he's making all sorts of new friends."

"That's…odd." I looked over at the Slytherin table, where Rosalie and Jasper were discreetly ignoring the people trying to ask them questions.

"Yeah." Rose sounded far-off. Then she perked up. "Anyway, tell me about yourself. I find vampires fascinating."

"I'm actually not a full vampire," I admitted. "I'm half-human. And Jake over here is a shapeshifter."

"You're half-human?" Rose asked. "How does that work?"

I felt myself perk up as I began telling her, thinking that maybe—_maybe_—I might have made a new friend.

For the rest of dinner, Rose and I chatted about everything: our family, friends and the magical world. She had an enormous family; even though she only had a younger brother, Hugo, who was nine, she had countless aunts, uncles and cousins.

In return, I pointed out my family to her and gave a quick description of their personalities.

"So that's Emmett," I was saying. "He's the cheerful, jokey one. He has a great personality."

Rose grinned. "Sounds like a Hufflepuff." She turned to the Ravenclaw table. "Is that your brother?" she asked, indicating Dad.

"No," I said, horrified at the thought. "He's my father."

"Oh." Rose blinked. "That's…erm…interesting." She seemed uncertain of what to say and compromised by stuffing a large piece of chicken into her mouth.

"I know it seems kind of weird, but that's only because of my rate of growth. I look eighteen (and I will forever), but I'm really eleven." I tried a bite of treacle tart and nearly gagged. Why, oh why couldn't we have gone hunting before we left London?

"You're really eleven?" Rose asked. "I thought you were eighteen!"

"The reason we actually came to London was to celebrate my eleventh birthday," I said, wincing as I swallowed.

"We're the same age then," Rose said in wonder.

"I know, it seems hard to believe." I looked down the table at a little boy picking his nose. "_Really _hard to believe."

Rose seemed less wary of me now as she, now, began to talk about her cousins. "I have a lot of them, but I'll only tell you about the ones I know best. First there's James. He's the one in second year. He's really mischievous and is always pulling pranks. Uncle Harry told me to keep an eye on him. Did you know he's thinking of joining the Quidditch team this year?" She said this all in a rush.

"Isn't Quidditch the wizarding sport played on broomsticks?" I asked.

Rose nodded. "I want to be on the team next year too. Anyway, all you need to know to survive around James is to have a good sense of humor and to love pulling pranks."

"Sounds like he and Emmett would be good friends," I muttered.

"So that's James for you. The next cousin is Al, remember him? He's the one in Slytherin I was telling you about. He's quiet, clumsy and kind of geeky." Rose smirked. "But he's my best friend. Or at least he used to be." She fell silent.

I wasn't sure what to say. Would I be overstepping the line if I offered her advice?

Luckily, Rose began talking again before I could. "Ever since he was sorted into Slytherin, he barely even talks to me! All he does is hang out with Scorpius Malfoy and smirk whenever Gryffindors walk by. It's like he's been brainwashed." She shot a dark look over at the Slytherins.

I bit my lip, trying to think of something to say. Rose must feel very strongly about this, or else she wouldn't open up to a complete stranger, especially one who looked seven years older than her.

"Why don't you try telling Albus how you feel?" I asked slowly, aware that I was giving the lamest piece of advice in the world. Guess being a psychologist was out of the question.

"I _did _try," Rose said, "but he didn't seem to understand what I was talking about! And Scorpius rolled his eyes and said, 'Don't you know that Gryffindors and Slytherins are enemies? You can't be friends with Al anymore because you're a Gryffindor!'"

My eyes widened. Did this mean I couldn't be "friends" with Rosalie and Jasper anymore? Would they start ignoring me, like Albus had (apparently) done to Rose?

But no, that was stupid. I was sure Rosalie and Jasper wouldn't succumb to the Slytherins' apparent prejudices. They were too old and wise for that.

Well, maybe not _wise_.

"Whatcha talking about, Ness?" Jake asked, turning to me and Rose. He had a relaxed sort of smile on his face that could only be brought on by food.

"Gryffindor and Slytherin," I said. "Rose, this is Jacob Black, my boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you," said Rose, looking absolutely terrified. I could kind of understand her viewpoint. Jake looked like he should be on the teaching staff, not a student.

Jake grinned at her briefly before turning to me. "Where do you suppose we go after this, Nessie? McGonagall said something about dormitories but—"

"_Nessie_?" Rose asked, fighting a smile. "That's your nickname? Nessie?"

"Yes," I sighed, smacking myself on the head inwardly. I got teased enough back in Forks; I should have known it would be worse in _Scotland_, of all places!

"I hate you, Jacob," I hissed. He snorted.

I looked down at my uneaten food and gaped when I realized it wasn't there anymore. In fact, _none _of the food on the table was there anymore. It was all empty plates and glasses.

"What—" I began.

Rose tugged on my arm. "That means dinner's over," she explained. "We have to go back to our dormitories now."

"Uh…"

"Don't worry," she grinned. "I'll show you the way."

There was a loud outbreak of noise and talk as, all around us, people began getting up and filing out of the Hall. I tried to catch a glimpse of Mom and Dad, but they'd already gone.

"Follow me," Rose said as she got up too and started toward the door. I saw Jake look longingly at the empty plates as if he wished there was more food. I grabbed his hand and pulled him away, after Rose.

Trying to keep my eye on Rose's bright red hair, I wove through the crowd (which was easy, most people moved out of my way immediately) pulling Jake with me. "Whoa, take it easy, Ness!" he complained. "I've just eaten more than I normally eat in a month!"

I ignored him, as I'd lost sight of Rose for a moment. Then I saw her again, standing just outside of the front doors. She was talking to two people; I could tell they were both Slytherins from their green robes. One had messy black hair and bright green eyes behind a pair of glasses. The other had sleek white-blond hair and gray eyes.

"Rose!" I called, walking over to them.

"Oh, look," the white-haired boy sneered. "It's the vampire freaks from America. Why don't you go trotting off with them, back to where they came from?"

"Excuse me?" Jacob said disbelievingly. He let go of my hand and stormed over to the boy. "What did you just say?"

The boy immediately shut up. "N-nothing," he stammered, looking at Jake's enormous frame.

The black-haired boy, whom I assumed was Albus Potter, pulled the white-haired boy away. "Easy, Scorp," he said.

Rose's eyes were filled with tears. "Why can't we be friends, Al?" she said. "Who cares if I'm in Gryffindor and you're in Slytherin?"

Albus glanced at her. For a split second, regret flashed through his eyes. Then he looked at Scorpius Malfoy, and a mask came over his face, hard and cold. "I'm sorry, Rose," he said stiffly. "But we've had this conversation one too many times. We're _not_ friends. We're just cousins."

Rose began to cry. "Please, Al! Don't listen to Scorpius! Remember what my dad told us? The Malfoys can't be trusted!"

"Yes, they can," Scorpius cut in. "We may not be Death Eaters anymore, but we still hold true to Slytherin tradition. And that means no fraternizing with Gryffindors. My father told me not to."

"Listen," I heard someone say. Then I realized it had been me. "Now, I might be in the last position to say this, but _who cares_? Gryffindor and Slytherin are just houses! It's not as if it's a lifelong commitment or anything!"

Scorpius looked coldly at me. "I didn't expect you to understand," he said callously. "And how could you? You're not even _magical_. Vampire or not, you're just a filthy Muggle!" With that, he grabbed Albus and pulled him down a flight of stairs nearby.

I watched them go, feeling an urge to hunt Scorpius Malfoy down and drink his blood. But I didn't, instead focusing on a now-bawling Rose. "Sshh. It's okay," I said awkwardly. "I'm sure Albus still likes you."

"No he doesn't!" Rose sobbed. "He'll never like me again because I'm a—I'm a _Gryffindor!_"

I looked helplessly at Jake. He shrugged.

"Well," I said. Great start, Nessie. "Why don't we go up to the dormitories? Maybe you'll feel better in the morning."

Rose seemed too deeply buried in her misery to answer me, so I wrapped her arm around her shoulders comfortingly. "Help. Me!" I mouthed to Jacob.

"What am I _supposed_ to do?" he mouthed back. "Call the crisis line?"

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind. I'll find a way up to the Gryffindor dormitories myself."

"Be my guest," he smirked, sauntering after me as I lugged Rose through the first doorway I could find and up a flight of stairs to God-knows-where.

Luckily, a few of the portraits on the walls gave us directions to Gryffindor tower and twenty minutes later we stood in front of a portrait of an enormous lady wearing a pink dress. "Are you the Fat Lady?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, looking questioningly at Rose. "Password?"

"What password?" I asked irritably. "Just let us in to the common room!"

"Oh, but I can't, dear," she said. "You have to have the password to get in. It changes every day or so, see."

"I. Don't. Care." I hissed between my teeth. "Let us in!"

"I can't," she said airily. "Sorry."

I growled angrily.

"Godric's Hollow," said a voice from behind me. I whirled around and my jaw dropped when I saw a _ghost_. Yes, a ghost. White and transparent. I could only gape at him as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open.

"You look rather shocked, young one," the ghost chuckled.

"What—you—I—but—" I stammered.

"Yes, my dear friend, ghosts _do _exist. You're in the magical world, remember?" The ghost smiled at me. "I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington, but you can call me Nick. I'm the resident Gryffindor ghost."

"Hello," I gasped. "I'm Renesmee Cullen."

"So I've heard," Nick said. He looked at Jacob, who was leaning against the wall smirking. "Is this charming young man a Gryffindor too?"

"Yeah," Jake said. He stepped in through the portrait hole. "I'm Jacob Black."

"Nice to meet you," Nick said, tipping his almost-severed neck at Jacob. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some important business to attend to with the Bloody Baron." With that, he glided right through the wall and disappeared.

I could only stare after him.

"Are you all right?" Rose asked me, speaking for the first time since her "breakdown." I looked down to see her wiping the last of the tears from her eyes.

"I'm fine," I said, following Jacob through the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor common room.

It was painted red and gold, and couches and chairs were scattered throughout the room. There were a few portraits who were either sleeping or looking around, and a fire roared merrily on the wall opposite us, adding cheer to the room.

"Nice, isn't it?" Rose asked. I glanced quickly at her. She seemed to have gotten over Albus's rejection for the most part. "The dormitories are over there—separate ones for boys and girls." She pointed at two staircases at the other end of the room.

"Cool," Jacob said. He yawned hugely. "Which one is the boys' dormitory? I'm exhausted."

"The one on the left," Rose answered.

"I'm going to bed then, Nessie," Jake said. He leaned down to kiss me. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," I said, watching him disappear up the staircase.

"I'm going to bed too," Rose said. "Are you coming?" She looked at me.

I nodded and followed her up the girls' staircase into a circular room, where five four-poster beds were placed around it. There was a large floor-to-ceiling window on the opposite end of the room.

"Hey, guys," Rose said to two girls who were sitting on the beds. "This is Renesmee Cullen."

"Hi," the two girls said to me, albeit warily.

"That's Jasmine and Maria Longbottom," Rose said. "They're Professor Longbottom's daughters."

"He's the Herbology professor," Jasmine or Maria added.

"Oh, okay," I said, pretending I knew what they were talking about.

"There's an extra bed," Rose said, pointing to the one beside hers. "Sasha Finnigan went straight to second year, so you can have hers."

I collapsed down on the large bed, surprised to see that my suitcases were lying beside the drawer.

"I'll show you around school tomorrow, OK?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, sure," I mumbled, feeling my eyes close. I'd only been at Hogwarts two hours but it already felt like I'd been here two years.

I fell asleep without even getting undressed or talking to the other girls, thinking of different ways to kill Scorpius Malfoy and not have anyone suspect it was me.


	8. Off to a Bad Start

**I just remembered that I haven't put a disclaimer on this story yet. So, here it is: I own absolutely no one and nothing in this story, except for a few OCs. I am not, nor will I ever be, JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer. But hey, I can always hope, right?**

* * *

I was awakened the next morning by whispering voices. For a second, I forgot where I was, then I remembered I was at Hogwarts and about to begin my first day there. Doing magic.

Wow.

The hushed voices got louder the closer I drifted back into consciousness. It sounded like they were whispering right over my bed.

"She looks like she's waking up…"

"Prod her awake, Jasmine. It won't hurt."

"Are you serious, Rose? She's half-vampire! She's likely to drink our blood if we make her mad!"

"She seems friendly enough. And besides, didn't Professor McGonagall say her family only drank animal blood?"

"Maybe she was lying to make us feel better."

There was an exasperated sigh, then Rose said, "I'll do it."

I felt something timidly tap my shoulder. "Renesmee? It's time to get up for breakfast."

"Call me Nessie," I mumbled. "Renesmee's too hard to pronounce."

There were three gasps. "She's awake!"

"No duh, Maria," Jasmine said.

I opened my eyes and sat up. Rose, Jasmine and Maria all took an automatic step back.

Sunlight was streaming through the windows of the dormitory and landing in puddles on the floor. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the sudden light. "What time is it?" I said sleepily.

"Eight o'clock," Jasmine or Maria said. "We get up at eight every day and have breakfast until nine, when lessons start."

"Great," I said sarcastically, climbing out of bed. "And I was supposed to have this year off…"

"You were?" one of the twins asked.

I nodded. "Yeah—I've already graduated high—er, _Muggle_—school twice."

"You said you were only eleven, though," Rose said.

"I am, but I started high school—which would be around fourth year here, am I right?—when I was three years old."

The three of them looked at me in astonishment. "Wow," one of the twins said.

I blushed and looked away from their awed gazes. I noticed an empty birdcage sitting on the dresser beside my bed. "What's the cage for?" I asked.

"Your owl," Rose replied. "Students at Hogwarts can have either an owl, a cat, or a toad, but owls are the most popular. Professor McGonagall—she's the head of Gryffindor house by the way—came in here last night while you were sleeping and she'd already gotten your owl."

"What use do owls have, though?"

"They deliver letters. You put one in the owl's beak and they'll deliver it within the next few days or so. Of course, it depends how far the owl will travel." Rose sounded like a textbook. I could already tell she was one of those over-achievers who got top grades in every subject.

"Your robes are also over there," Rose added, pointing at a folded set of clothes. "There are different colored robes for each house so you can distinguish people from your House."

"All right." I looked over at Jasmine and Maria, who were watching me warily. I smiled reassuringly at them. "It's okay, guys. I'm perfectly harmless."

They seemed to relax. "Sorry," one of them apologized. "It's just…you're kind of scary. Your pale skin and your sharp teeth. I've never been close to a vampire before, even if it's a half-human one."

"If you only drink animal blood," the other twin said, "then how do you expect to get a hold of it here?"

"McGonagall said something about the Forbidden Forest," I said, "But I don't know what that means."

"All sorts of magical animals live in the Forbidden Forest," Rose said. "They'd be your only source of food around here, unless you want to drink owls' blood." She grimaced.

I felt my throat begin to ache as I listened to the girls' heartbeats. I hadn't had blood in almost two weeks. Maybe talking about hunting was a bad idea…

"So," I said, quickly changing the subject. "Do you want to go down to breakfast now?"

"Sure," the twins and Rose said. I quickly got changed into my red-and-gold robes and brushed my hair before heading down the dormitory stairs into the common room.

I felt my face break into a grin at the sight of Jacob, lounging on one of the armchairs by the fire. He smiled back at me. "Hey, honey," he said, vaulting over the back of the chair and wrapping his arm around my waist. "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good," I smiled, ignoring the twins' and Rose's hysterical giggles.

"Did you know cell phones don't work in this place?" Jake asked as we left the common room. "I tried calling Sam last night, but the phone just went dead! I must have tried a hundred times, but whatever happened, it still didn't work."

"That's because Muggle electronic devices don't work at Hogwarts," Rose said from in front of us. "All the magic makes them go haywire."

Jake frowned. "Right little know-it-all, isn't she?" he whispered in my ear.

I rolled my eyes. "She's just being helpful."

"Just being helpful, my—"

"Nessie!" A voice called from behind me. I turned around to see Alice, now clad in yellow Hufflepuff robes, skipping towards us with the usual grin on her face.

"Oh, hey, Alice," I said nonchalantly. "What's up?"

"I had a vision we'll be going hunting tonight," Alice said enthusiastically. "Are you up for it?"

"In the Forbidden Forest? Sure," I said, feeling relieved. "Where are we meeting?"

"In the Entrance Hall at seven," Alice replied. She smiled brightly at Rose, Jasmine and Maria. Only Jasmine was brave enough to smile timidly back.

"And I know what classes we'll be taking," Alice said. She began counting them off on her fingers. "Charms, Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, and Herbology."

"Interesting," I said, though I hadn't understood a word of what she'd said.

"You have Astronomy and Herbology with us Hufflepuffs, Transfiguration and History of Magic with the Ravenclaws, and Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions with the Slytherins." Alice said cheerfully as we began descending the Grand Staircase.

"Interesting," I said again.

She continued chattering in my ear all the way down to the Great Hall, but I barely listened to her, trying instead to memorize all the hallways and staircases so that I wouldn't get lost later. How on earth was I supposed to find my way to classes in this mess?

We were just about to turn into the Great Hall when I heard Rose's sharp intake of breath in front of me. I looked around and saw—guess who?—Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy coming up from what I assumed was the dungeons, where the Slytherin common room was.

Malfoy ignored us and walked on prissily by, but Albus's eyes lingered on Rose. I thought I saw him give a tiny shrug, as if to say 'sorry', but I didn't know if Rose noticed. She kept her head down and didn't even look at her cousin.

"I don't see what their problem is," Jake said loudly. "They don't need to be idiots and ignore each other."

Both Rose and Albus turned to look at him. I blushed furiously and pushed Jacob into the Great Hall.

"What was he talking about?" Rose said to me as we walked to the Gryffindor table. I noticed her looking sadly over at Albus. "Why'd he call us idiots?"

"Jake can be a little…blunt sometimes," I said. "You'll have to forgive him. He means as little harm as I do."

We sat down at the table, where food had mysteriously appeared, and began to eat. (Well, Rose and Jacob did.) I was looking over at the Ravenclaw table where Mom and Dad sat a little ways apart from the other students and talking in low voices. When she noticed me, Mom smiled and gave a little wave. I waved back.

"How are you doing?" I heard Dad ask in a normal tone of voice, but I knew he was talking to me.

_All right, _I thought.

"The red-haired girl beside you, Rose Weasley—what's her problem?" Dad asked. "There's a depressed edge to her thoughts, but she hasn't thought of exactly _why_ yet."

_Her cousin, Albus Potter, is ignoring her because, in her words, "I'm a Gryffindor and he's a Slytherin." She still wants them to be her friends. _I thought of the confrontation that had taken place last night, where Scorpius had called me a "filthy Muggle."

There was a sharp growl from Dad. I jerked out of my reverie. Uh-oh. Perhaps thinking that hadn't been the best idea…

"Scorpius Malfoy!" Dad thundered, and to my horror, he actually stood up and glared at the Slytherin table. Everyone in the hall turned to look at him.

"Isn't that your dad?" Rose whispered to me.

"Unfortunately," I mumbled, feeling myself slink down in my seat.

"Yes?" Malfoy asked. I could see he was terrified, but trying to keep his cool. Beside him, Albus was looking just as scared.

"Explain why you called my daughter, and in turn the rest of my family, a filthy Muggle," Dad said. His voice was low and dangerous.

"I didn't mean to!" Malfoy squeaked, his gray eyes widening. "It—just slipped out!"

Dad snorted. "No it didn't! I can read every single little pathetic thought your revolting mind is thinking right now, and believe me, it didn't just 'slip out.'"

I was stunned. I'd never seen my father like this before.

Malfoy looked as if he'd wet his pants. "I'm sorry, sir!" he sniveled. "I'll never call your daughter that again!"

Dad didn't look convinced, but he sat down after a threatening look at Malfoy. I noticed Mom was looking just as mortified as I was.

Meanwhile, everyone at the Gryffindor table was staring at me, their mouths wide open. I sighed and grabbed the nearest newspaper I could find to hide myself.

This was going to be a _long _day.


	9. Albus Potter

**Yay! Long chappie! xD**

* * *

As you can probably imagine, breakfast that day was the most embarrassing time of my life. When people weren't coming up to me and asking "Was that guy who yelled at Malfoy your dad? Because if he is, that's creepy.", they were looking at me and whispering to each other, since it was obvious that "the bronze-haired man" and I were related.

Rose and Jake tried to cheer me up, but I remained firm in my conviction that coming to Hogwarts had been an _extremely _bad idea unless you wanted a humiliation wish.

When breakfast was (finally) over, I was ready to stride over to the Ravenclaw table and demand that we go back to Forks, but obviously Dad knew what I was thinking because he just waved at me and quickly darted out of the room, Mom close behind him.

Coward. _I hope you heard that, Dad_.

I growled angrily and gripped the table hard as they left, hard enough so that a small piece of it broke off. Rose rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, and all of a sudden the table repaired itself.

"How'd you do that?" Jake asked, impressed in spite of himself.

Rose looked at him coldly. Apparently, she'd heard his little comment earlier. "It's simple—the _Reparo _spell. Any first-year can do it."

"Are you implying that because we're not magical, we're incompetent?" Jake asked.

"No," said Rose, raising her eyebrows, but she looked as if she was thinking otherwise.

Jake glared at Rose so furiously I decided to walk in between them. "So, what's our first class?" I asked.

"Herbology down in the greenhouses with the Hufflepuffs," Rose said as we exited the school and walked into a small courtyard with a fountain in the middle of it. "After that we have Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws."

"You've really figured this all out, haven't you?" I marveled. "And how long have you been here?"

"Twelve days," Rose replied. "School starts on September the first."

"Every year?"

She nodded.

We left the courtyard and emerged onto a wide green lawn with a hill gently sloping all the way down to the lake. I could see the greenhouses about five hundred feet from us.

"Nessie!" a voice sang, and Alice threw herself onto my back, wrapping her arms around my neck. "I knew I'd find you here."

Rose jumped and Jake swore. "Don't ever do that again, okay, pixie?" he threatened.

Alice simply raised her eyebrows at him. "How about I ask Carlisle to send you home? I'm not sure you'd like it, being away from Nessie."

Jacob scowled. "Fine," he snarled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You win."

Alice laughed into my ear.

We continued walking down to the greenhouses, me carrying Alice piggy-back style. A few kids gave us weird looks but no one said anything. I was sure rumors had spread about the "weird vampire Cullen kids" already.

Alice hopped off my back once we got to the greenhouses and danced over to Emmett, who was leaning against the door giving fearsome looks to the poor first-years. "Isn't this exciting?" she trilled to him. "We have Herbology with Nessie and Jacob!"

Emmett grinned down at me. "Did you enjoy Edward's little outburst at breakfast this morning? I swear, half the kids won't go _near _him now! Especially not Scorpius Malfoy." His booming laugh echoed across the grounds and sent two third-years running back up to the castle.

"He's just being a father, Nessie," Alice said once she saw the look on my face. "Any dad would do that for their child."

"Want to bet?" I snarled.

"Yeah!" Emmett said enthusiastically. He turned to Rose. "Hey, you. Would your dad yell at another guy if he called you names?"

Rose looked taken aback. "Er, I guess so."

"Hah!" Alice said, grinning widely.

"Not in front of two hundred people," I muttered darkly.

The door to the greenhouse opened and a short, stout woman came out. "Hello," she said to us. "I suppose you're the Cullens?"

"And Black." Jacob added.

"I'm Professor Sprout," the woman said, shaking our hands. "I'm the head of Hufflepuff house." She nodded at Alice and Emmett.

"What do we do in Herbology?" I asked.

"Plants," Professor Sprout replied briskly. "Magical plants, to be more exact. We learn how to take care of them and cure them. In fact, Herbology would be the subject most suited to you, since you aren't magical." She led us into the greenhouse where rows upon rows of tables filled with plants of all sorts sat.

I took one look at a plant that had teeth and decided never to come to Herbology again.

As I'd expected, the rest of the day was uneventful. We had seven subjects, each one somehow more boring than the last.

In Herbology, all we did was talk about plants. Wow. Fun.

In Transfiguration, we got to watch Professor McGonagall turn into a cat and watch the other students do magic while we just sat there. Interesting.

In Potions, we mixed up disgusting ingredients in a cauldron and waited for them to boil. I had the time of my life.

In History of Magic, we got to listen to a ghost teacher drone about giant wars. I'd never been so excited.

In Charms, the other students waved their wands around while Jake, Rosalie, Jasper and I pretended to sleep (well, not pretending in Jacob's case.)

In Astronomy, we watched the sky for stars. And it wasn't even nighttime. The only halfway exciting thing that happened was someone accidentally dropped their telescope out the window.

So by the time I tramped into Defense Against the Dark Arts last period, I was more than a little annoyed. Every thought I had was laced with sarcasm.

"Are you all right, Nessie?" Jake asked as we took our seats.

I glared at him. "I'm great. I'm so excited to have you talking in my ear to make me more pissed that I'd like to have you around me all the time so I can tell you _every time_ I feel this happy."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, Nessie," Jake said. "I was just asking."

The door of the classroom swung open and two people ran in, gasping for breath. Guess who they were?

If you said Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, you were right.

"Sorry, sir!" Albus gasped, his glasses slipping sideways. "I didn't mean t—" He stopped dead when he saw the teacher.

Harry Potter stood at the front of the classroom, looking sternly at Albus. "Why are you late, Albus?" he asked.

Albus turned bright red. "Dad! I—I—I—"

"Professor McGonagall let us out of Transfiguration late, sir," Scorpius said smoothly as they took their seats.

Harry looked severely at him. "I'll have a chat with her later, Mr Malfoy," he said.

Meanwhile, I was rejoicing. I guess I _didn't _have the most embarrassing dad in the world. I mean, how awkward would that be, to have your dad for a part-time teacher?

I could tell by the terrified look on Albus's face that that _wasn't _the real reason why they were late.

"Now," Harry began, "I'm filling in for Professor Wood today, but I expect you all to be on your best behavior."

"You're Harry Potter, right sir?" One of the Slytherins asked.

Harry gave him a curt nod before continuing. "Now, today will be a slightly different lesson than the normal curriculum. Professor Wood has left notes that each Gryffindor is to be paired up with a Slytherin while they make a list of what distinguishes a true werewolf from an ordinary wolf."

Jake snorted out loud. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

Harry consulted his notes and began naming names, but I didn't know any of them. I was praying to be paired with Rosalie or Jasper.

"Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley!"

From behind me, I heard Rose squeak in terror. I felt sorry for her, but I couldn't help but smirk when I saw Scorpius sit down beside her, keeping as far away as possible.

"Jacob Black and Rosalie Hale!"

Jake went over to sit by Rosalie as Jasper was paired with Maria.

Harry went down his list, but I didn't hear my name. I began panicking. What if I wasn't on the registry…?

"Renesmee Cullen and Albus Potter!"

I had to work with Albus _Potter_? Harry Potter's son, Rose Weasley's cousin, and Scorpius Malfoy's best friend? I had to _work _with him for an hour and a half?

Wonderful.

Albus glanced quickly over at me and saw me glaring. He gave a little yelp and slunk down farther in his seat.

"Al?" Harry asked him, putting the piece of parchment back down on the table. "Go sit next to Ms. Cullen."

Keeping his head down, Albus stood up and shuffled over to me, sitting down gingerly in the chair Jake had recently vacated.

His scent washed over me, potent and intoxicating. My mouth immediately began watering and my muscles tensed. Albus had a fairly good scent, but my being thirsty made everything ten times worse.

I tried to concentrate on the instructions Harry was giving, but I couldn't. I was suddenly aware of all the different, mouthwatering scents of the humans in the room. It had been too long since I'd hunted; almost three weeks. I usually didn't go any longer than two.

"…And you may begin," Harry finished, sitting down at his desk. Chatter broke out all over the room as people began talking about their project.

Trying to ignore the burn in my throat, I turned to Albus with what I hoped was a friendly smile. I might as well _try _to be nice to him. "So, did you hear a word of what he said?" I asked. "I wasn't really paying attention…"

"We have to make a list of the differences between werewolves and wolves," Albus said in a small voice, not looking at me.

I blinked. "Well, um, aren't werewolves bigger than normal wolves, for one?"

Albus frowned. "Yeah, maybe." He scribbled something down on a piece of parchment.

I watched him thoughtfully. He was certainly a different person when Scorpius Malfoy wasn't around. Shy and…insecure. I began to wonder what on earth had possessed him to become friends with that slimy piece of—

"What else?" Albus chanced a glance at me, looking terrified. I suppose he thought I'd set my father on him if he said something wrong.

"I…have no idea." I twirled a bronze curl around my fingers. "You're the magical one."

Albus shrugged. "One of my dad's friends used to be a werewolf, but he's dead now."

"Oh." I looked up at Harry, who was surveying the class with interest. "But you still don't know a thing about werewolves?"

Albus shook his head. "My dad doesn't like talking about him."

I decided not to mention the fact that Jake was a "werewolf." I was sure McGonagall hadn't revealed _that _fact to the students. Vampires were bad enough.

"Don't touch me, you filthy blood traitor," a voice spat from behind us. I turned around to see Scorpius staring in disgust at Rose, wiping something off of his sleeve.

"Sorry!" Rose squeaked.

I looked back at Albus, who didn't appear to have heard Scorpius's comment. He was staring down at the parchment broodingly.

I cleared my throat before speaking. "Albus?" I asked quietly. He looked up at me.

I took a deep breath. I would do this, for Rose's sake. "Rose, she, uh, is really depressed. She still wants to be friends with you."

Albus shifted nervously from foot to foot and looked away. "I can't," he mumbled, so softly a normal human wouldn't have been able to hear.

"Why not?" I asked. Albus jumped and looked surprised that I'd heard him.

"Because Gryffindors and Slytherins can't be friends," he said, scuffing a pattern into the floor with his shoe.

"Yes they can. My aunt and uncle, Rosalie and Jasper, are in Slytherin and Jake and I are still friends with them." _Never mind that Jake was never friends with Rosalie in the first place._

"Yeah, but it's different for you. You're not magical—you wouldn't understand." Albus wrote something else on the piece of parchment.

My eyes narrowed. "Who says I'm not magical?"

Albus frowned. "You're not. Professor McGonagall said so."

I grabbed his hand before he had time to react and projected my thoughts onto him. _You call this non-magical?_

Albus pulled his hand away immediately, his eyes wide. "What did you just do?" He looked almost scared of me.

"I told you. It's my 'gift'. I can project thoughts onto another person." I said seriously.

"But that's—that's not possible!" Albus took a step backwards.

I smiled grimly. "Give me your hand, seeing as how you didn't believe me the first time."

He didn't move; instead he stared at me warily.

I decided, for the sake of his sanity, to not tell him about the rest of my family's "talents." He probably wouldn't believe me anyways.

"So," I said, getting back on topic, "Can you _please _try to make it up to Rose? She really cares about you, you know."

Albus looked down. "I know," he mumbled. "It's just…Scorp told me I couldn't be friends with her anymore."

"Why did he tell you that?" I said calmly, but on the inside I felt my temper start to flare up. I'd already developed a sort of hatred for Scorpius Malfoy, and this only solidified it.

"Because he says it's the right thing to do," Albus mumbled. "He even said I should disown my family." He looked guiltily up at Harry, who thankfully hadn't heard him.

I was speechless for a few seconds, then I spluttered, "Scorpius Malfoy is an idiot! Why are you listening to him? Don't you see he's trying to manipulate you?"

Albus looked at me, startled. "Scorp's not trying to manipulate me! He's a really good friend!"

"You're friends with someone who calls your cousin a 'filthy blood traitor'?" I asked.

Albus shook his head quickly, as if trying to clear it. "Stop it, okay? Leave me alone! I can do what I want. Besides, _you're _just a dirty Muggle!" He spat the words at me, sounding eerily like Scorpius.

My face hardened. "All right. I won't try to help you in the future. I'm sorry I even talked to you." And with that, I turned my back on him and ignored him for the rest of the class, instead keeping my mind on hunting this evening.

For the rest of the class, I pointedly ignored Albus, only speaking to him when I had to. To tell the truth, I was a little hurt at his "dirty Muggle" comment. I didn't consider myself a Muggle. In fact, I was the furthest thing from ordinary.

When the bell rang, I bolted out of the classroom even before everyone else had time to stand up and went up to the Gryffindor common room (it was a miracle I didn't get lost on the way there). I curled up in one of the armchairs beside the ever-roaring fire and stared into its depths, feeling a sense of gloom wash over me. My first day at Hogwarts hadn't been the best.

That was the understatement of the century.

I didn't see how I would survive the next few _days _here, much less the next few months! Sitting in class all day learning the basics of magic was more than tiresome—it was downright _boring. _Maybe if I actually had some magical ability, I might find it more to my liking. But no. I was only a half-human half-vampire who could project her thoughts onto another person. A mutant hybrid.

A freak of nature. Technically, I shouldn't even _exist. _No matter what my family said, I would always be different…


	10. Hunting

The common room entrance swung open and Jake and Rose came in, looking worried. When Jake saw me, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Where on earth have you been?" he exclaimed, sounding for a second uncannily like my father. "I didn't know where you went!"

"What happened?" Rose asked quietly, coming over to sit down beside me.

"Albus is…is…brainwashed." I said. There was no other word for it.

To my surprise, Rose smiled. "What was your first guess?" she asked. Then she turned solemn. "I had a feeling he might be rude to you, too."

"He called me a dirty Muggle," I admitted, tearing my eyes away from the fire to look at them.

Jake let out a hiss of anger. "How dare he! I'm going to go give that little slime ball a piece of my mind!" He actually made to leave, but I held him back.

"Don't, Jake," I said. "It's not worth it, to get in a fight. Remember, we don't know how magic will affect us—or you."

He still looked angry, but luckily he came over and collapsed down on the couch. "I'm still going to, erm, _talk _to him tomorrow."

I looked over at Rose. "Why don't you tell Harry about all this? I mean, Albus is his son, after all."

She shrugged. "Uncle Harry wouldn't believe me. He's under the deluded impression that all his children are saints—even James."

"What's wrong with James?" I asked, but I didn't get a chance to answer because the portrait hole swung open again and a group of rowdy boys who looked around twelve or thirteen came in, talking loudly and play fighting. In the center of it all was an auburn-haired boy with glasses identical to Albus's and muddy brown eyes. When he saw Rose, he broke away from the other boys and went over to her.

"Hey, Rosie." He said, ruffling her hair. "Got in with the vampires, huh?"

"Go away, James," she said, not looking at all pleased to see him.

James ignored her. Instead he turned to me and Jake. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said arrogantly. "This school needs a little spicing up, and what better way than to bring in a group of American vampires?"

"Technically, I'm half-human." I said, feeling the need to bring that point up.

He shrugged and pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "Whatever. Oh, cool accent by the way. Anyway, I'm James Potter. You're Renesmee Cullen, right?" Not waiting for me to answer, he held out his hand to me and I took it hesitantly. He barely winced at my cold touch. "Yeah, so I think vampires are awesome. Come talk to me if you need any help." He winked at me.

Was he—quite possibly—_flirting _with me? I shuddered. That was wrong on so many levels. "Uh, thanks." I said, not sure what to say.

James grinned at me and then went upstairs with his group of cronies, who all shot conspicuous glances back at the three of us. When they'd disappeared, Rose turned to me with a slightly smug expression on her face. "See what I mean?" she asked.

I nodded. "I see."

Jake, Rose and I chatted for the rest of the hour until dinner. I was pleased that Jake and Rose seemed to be making friends fairly easily. They were discussing different ways to "accidentally" curse Scorpius Malfoy, while I was quiet. I was thinking of ways to bribe my parents in letting me go back to London with Carlisle and Esme. I wondered if Harry and Ginny would mind if I lived there too…I could baby-sit Lily, perhaps, and clean the house.

"Nessie?" Someone was calling my name. I jerked out of my reverie and blinked at Rose, who was standing up. "It's dinner," she explained. "Let's go."

Jake looked absolutely delighted. I swear, that boy could eat half the world's supply of food.

We made our way down to the Great Hall, where students were already filing in. They all gave us—well, me and Jake—a wide berth. I wasn't surprised. Normal humans did that as well. There was something about us that unconsciously screamed _Danger! _even if the humans didn't fully understand why. And Jake was just, well, _big._

As typical, I didn't eat, while Jake and Rose stuffed themselves with food. I watched them eat and wished, somewhat longingly, that I could enjoy it as well.

Tearing my eyes away from the food, I looked for my family. Jasper and Rosalie were sitting by themselves at the end of the Slytherin table, not eating anything. The Slytherins seemed most at ease with them. At least they weren't shooting glances in their direction every five seconds, like every other table was doing.

At the Hufflepuff table, Alice was chattering excitedly with a seventh-year, who looked both scared and awed. I suppressed a smile. Alice tended to have that effect on people.

Meanwhile, Emmett was looking at the food with interest. He picked up a piece of chicken and examined it, then popped it into his mouth. I rolled my eyes. Maybe he was wondering if "magical" food was edible to vampires.

And over at the Ravenclaw table, Mom and Dad were whispering to each other, looking engaged in their conversation. I noticed their hands intertwined under the table and felt a pang of jealousy. Jake would _never _do that to me, especially when there was food involved. He needed both hands to eat and grab more food.

Finally dinner was over, and it was seven o'clock. I waited for Jake to finish his twelfth piece of bread before leaving.

In fact, he was still chewing when we met the others in the Entrance Hall. "There they are!" Alice cheered, grabbing my hand. "Come on, let's go!" And she towed me out the door. The others followed behind.

"You just missed McGonagall," Emmett chuckled to Jake. "She gave us a lecture on where to hunt and what to hunt."

"We're only supposed to hunt on the border of the Forest," Mom explained. "The normal animals, like deer, are there."

"Why not the other animals?" I asked. "Wouldn't there be magical animals in there?"

"Yeah, I guess, but apparently a lot of them are the last of their kind." Mom explained.

I sighed. I'd been hoping that we might get to have some more variety.

The forest, or the Forbidden Forest as it was called, was about a five-minute walk from the school. A little hut stood a few feet from the treeline.

"That's Hagrid's hut," Alice explained to me. "Hagrid is a half-giant. He's the Hogwarts gamekeeper."

"Apparently he's a real nutter, too," Jasper said from the back of the group. "That's what some of the Slytherins told us."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Don't believe anything the Slytherins say."

Jasper grinned at her and she realized her mistake. "Well, _most _of the Slytherins."

As we neared the Forest, I could smell the scent of a thousand different creatures. My throat ached. I didn't even recognize the scent of most of them.

"Remember, _only _the scents you know!" Alice cautioned us. "No running after unicorns or anything." She glared at Emmett. He held his hands up in mock surrender.

Pair by pair, they disappeared into the forest. First Alice and Jasper, then Rosalie and Emmett, and then Mom and Dad. Finally, Jake and I were the only ones left.

He grinned lopsidedly at me. "Which way, Ness? I'm not hungry, so you can choose."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, searching for a scent I knew. Finally I found it: deer. I opened my eyes and smiled. "West," I said, and ran into the forest.

I could feel Jacob pursuing me, but I paid him no attention. He wasn't a threat anyways. Streaking between the trees and feeling the wind rip through my hair, I felt at home for the first time in days. I loved hunting.

The scent of the deer got steadily closer—hopefully no one would get to it before I did—until I could see it in a small clearing up ahead. It was a stag, nibbling delicately on a blade of grass. As soon as it caught my scent, its head snapped up and it tensed, searching for danger.

As I got nearer, I slowed down until I was walking. I emerged into the clearing, trying to seem gentle. The deer tensed but didn't run, watching me warily.

"I'm sorry," I said to it. "But I have to do this."

And I leapt.

I could sense Jake watching me as I drank hungrily, the warm blood unappetizing but filling. When I was younger, we used to have little contests about who got the bigger kill. That didn't really happen anymore. We'd matured—well, _I'd _matured.

When I finished, I kicked the deer's body aside and walked over to Jake, smiling.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

I nodded. "You know, we should really hunt more often."

"Once every two weeks not enough for you?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope." I pursed my lips and grinned. "And—"

I was about to continue, but a light breeze ruffled the treetops and bringing with it a delicious scent. I was still relatively thirsty, and with a scent like this, how could I resist?

"Nessie?" Jake asked, watching my changing expression.

"I'm going to go hunt some more," I said, half of my mind already focused on the scent. It was coming steadily closer. My mouth welled.

Jake sighed. "Fine. I'll go back up to the castle, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, not really paying attention to him.

Jake disappeared, and the animalistic part of me felt relieved. My adversary was gone, and I was free to hunt.

Like the full vampires, I gave myself over to the predator inside me when I hunted. This way, it was easier to kill and not feel guilty about it.

I poised on my toes for a split second, and then dashed towards the appealing scent, wondering what kind of animal it was. A part of my brain—the human part—told me there was something that was missing, but the vampire part beat it down. Blood was blood. Who cared what animal it was?

By now I could hear my prey's heartbeat. I unconsciously licked my lips. I was no longer Nessie Cullen the half-human, but Nessie Cullen the half-vampire.

I was almost there. And my quarry knew I was coming. Its footsteps stopped and its heartbeat raced. It knew something was coming to it. It just didn't know what.

I burst out of the Forest, but I didn't notice. I'd caught sight of my prey.

_No, Nessie, no! _my instincts screamed at me, for my human side knew what it was. But I ignored it and slammed right into my prey, rolling us both over and over until we were on the ground.

I brought my mouth to my prey's neck, feeling its heart pounding under me. The blood was so appealing…

I was about to bite it when I heard a voice. "Renesmee?" My soon-to-be-kill squeaked.

My eyes popped wide open and I jumped off of it, staring in horror at what I had almost done.

"_Albus_?"


	11. The Hospital Wing

For at least a minute, I just stood there, staring in horror at him. What had I just done? I could have killed him—no, scratch that, I _would have _killed him!

Albus seemed to be in shock too. He was lying spread-eagled on the ground, his glasses a few feet away. Never taking his eyes off of me, he slowly reached out a hand to retrieve them, but stopped short with a cry of pain.

That brought my back to my senses. "What's wrong?" I asked worriedly. Had I seriously hurt him?

"My—my arm," he choked out. It was twisted at an odd angle. I felt my stomach turn. I'd broken it.

I was appalled at myself. I'd never killed a human before. And now…I almost had. No matter how much I disliked Albus, that still was no excuse.

"Do you need help?" I asked, taking a hesitant step forward.

"No!" Albus nearly yelled. He grabbed his wand with his other hand and muttered a spell, pointing the wand at his glasses. They flew over to him, where he fumbled for a second before managing to put them back on his face. Apparently, he didn't want me getting too close to him.

"Albus…" I began.

"What?" he said, trying to appear nonchalant. He attempted to stand up, but stumbled and nearly fell down again. Automatically, I reached out and steadied him again. He pulled away quite quickly.

"Listen, Albus, I'm _really_ sorry," I said. "I was hunting and then I guess you came too close. We give ourselves over to the predatory part of ourselves when we hunt. I'm _so, so _sorry!"

"Hunting?" Albus asked. "I thought you just wanted to kill me! It was that dirty Muggle comment, wasn't it?"

"No," I said, trying to explain as much as I could before he lost his nerve and ran away (which he was probably close to doing at this point). "We're vegetarian vampires. We only drink animal blood. I wasn't thinking straight—I thought you were a particularly good-smelling deer or something of that sort!"

Albus was slowly but surely backing away from me, cradling his broken arm. I imagined he must be terrified right now.

"I'll bring you to the nurse," I offered, frowning. Did they even _have _a nurse?

"You mean the hospital wing," Albus said. "And no, I'm fine." He looked nervously at me one more time before turning around and sprinting back up to the castle.

I watched him go, feeling sick. He'd tell the entire castle about what had just happened. Professor McGonagall would kick us out. They'd say I was unstable, a monster. Everything would be ruined.

But _why_ had I lost control of myself? I'd caught the scents of humans while I'd been hunting before, and I'd never felt the slightest inclination to go after them. But why did I have to start now? And nearly kill Albus Freaking Potter?

"Nessie!" I heard a voice call. Dad. I groaned and fell back against one of the trees, sliding down to the ground. I'd never be able to keep any secrets from him.

I tried very hard to concentrate on other things, but as soon as Dad appeared I automatically thought of what happened. It was like the game when someone said "Don't think of purple elephants!"

Dad froze as soon as he caught a glimpse of my thoughts, his eyes widening. The rest of my family, who'd arrived by that time, stopped and looked at him curiously.

_I'm sorry, Dad, _I thought once I'd finished relating the story. _I don't know what happened._

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen," was all he could seem to say. I felt myself shrink under his gaze. "How on _earth _could you have done that?"

I couldn't answer. What would be my punishment? Not being allowed to hunt and forced to eat human food?

"Edward!" Alice said angrily. I looked up to see her prodding him hard in the ribs. "What's happening?"

I was confused. "You didn't have a vision, Alice?"

She shook her head. "I guess I was too busy concentrating on the hunt. What happened?"

"Nessie nearly killed a human," Dad said, seeming to snap out of it. He turned to the others. "Jacob left, and when she was hunting, she caught the scent of a human, but she went after it anyway. She almost killed him, but managed to catch herself just in time."

Everyone looked in shock at me. I had near perfect self-control. "I'm sorry," I said in a small voice. "I got too caught up in the hunt."

"Which human was it?" Mom asked. I didn't like the way everyone was looking at me.

"Albus Potter," I answered.

Emmett frowned. "Too bad it wasn't Scorpius Malfoy. That kid is—" Rosalie stepped on his foot.

"Well," Jasper said. We all turned to look at him. "If the child wasn't hurt, then I don't see what the big deal is. Nessie stopped herself just in time."

"He _was _hurt," I mumbled.

"What?" Mom asked.

"I broke his arm."

"You _broke_—" Mom said, but Dad put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Why don't we go up to the hospital wing?" he suggested. "We'll ask the matron how bad the damage is, and then we'll work from there."

I didn't dare ask him how he knew it was called the "hospital wing."

Nobody argued, so he began to walk back towards the castle. I was the last one, trailing a bit behind the others. Would they even _let _me back into the school?

But when I walked through the front doors, nothing happened. No alarms went off, nobody came to stop us, nothing. I was surprised. Wouldn't Albus have told someone?

I wasn't sure how Dad knew the way up to the hospital wing, but ten minutes and endless flights of stairs later we arrived at a pair of ornately carved double doors. "Why don't you go in first, Nessie?" he offered, stepping aside so I could pass.

I looked warily at him. Was this part of my punishment? But there was no arguing with him, so I pushed open the doors and walked into the room.

The hospital wing was actually quite nice. Two rows of beds made up each side of the room, and there was a small door on the opposite wall that I assumed must lead to the matron's office. The light of the setting sun shone in through the windows, now blood red. Very fitting.

Albus was in the bed farthest from me. He was sitting up and his injured arm was in a sling. His glasses lay on the bedside table. I was grateful for that, as it meant he didn't know who I was.

He squinted at me as I approached. His eyes were bright green, not hidden anymore by glasses. It unbalanced me a little. "Rose?" he asked.

"No."

As soon as he heard my voice, he grabbed his glasses and struggled to move away, but he was unsuccessful. I stopped at the foot of his bed. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"What does it look like?" he grumped. "And why are you here? Come to finish me off for good?"

"No—Albus—listen to me! I swear I didn't mean to do that! I'll never hunt again and I'll be stuck eating human food. Actually, maybe I'll never eat again at all, if that's even possible—" I knew I was blabbering, but I didn't care.

Albus looked about to say something, but the office door burst open and a motherly-looking lady came out, holding a potion in her hand. She stopped when she saw me. "What are you doing here?" she asked me. "Mr Potter isn't allowed to have visitors."

"I just wanted to talk to him, ma'am." I forced my tone to politeness.

"Well, you'll have to talk to him later," she told me. "He needs to drink this sleeping potion. But he'll be out of here in the morning."

"Yes, but—"

"Wait," she said, looking closely at me. "You're one of those vampires that came, aren't you?"

"Yes, but—"

"You're the one who attacked him!" Her glare turned accusing.

"Yes, but—"

"Get _out_!" she said, rushing toward me and flapping her arms. "I'm going to have a talk with the Headmistress about this! Vampires at Hogwarts! It's absolutely insane!"

"Listen, lady," I said, refusing to back down. "I came to _apologize. _I didn't mean to attack Albus. He was too close to the Forest where I was hunting. I managed to avoid seriously injuring him."

The woman wasn't listening to a word I was saying. "In fact, I'm going to get her right now." She slammed the sleeping potion on the bedside table, spilling some of its contents onto the wood, and marched into her office.

I collapsed onto the bed beside Albus's, putting my head in my hands. I _knew _coming to Hogwarts was a bad idea.

"You really screwed up this time," Albus said. I lifted my head to see him—impossibly—grinning at me. "Madam Pomfrey is going to ask Professor McGonagall to expel you."

"Don't remind me, please," I groaned. Then something occurred to me. "Why are you being so calm? You should be screaming and running away."

Albus shrugged. "I've been hurt worse by my older brother. And I was just in here two days ago for being hit by a jinx."

I blinked. "Um, okay."

"But that doesn't mean I'm not mad at you. I have to spend the night here." He rolled his eyes.

"How bad are the injuries?"

"I have a broken arm and I have a lot of cuts, but that's about it." He tried to move his arm and winced.

I couldn't help but feel grateful. It could have been much, much worse.

Madam Pomfrey stalked back into the room with another potion, refusing to look at me. She handed the potion to Albus. "Drink this. You'll be able to walk if you do."

Albus looked at it, bemused.

"Professor McGonagall wishes to see you both in her office," the matron said. Albus, who had just taken a sip of the potion, started choking. Madam Pomfrey pointed her wand at him and he immediately stopped.

"_Both _of us?" Albus gasped, eyes streaming.

"Yes, both of you," Madam Pomfrey said, looking disapprovingly at me.

I stood up. "Why?"

"I assume to talk about what happened tonight," she said, helping Albus out of bed. "Do you know where her office is?"

Albus nodded. I waited for him to hobble over to me before leaving the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey's reproachful glare.

The others were waiting for me just outside of the doors. "Have fun in the principal's office," Emmett smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks so much, Emmett."

He winked. "Glad to help."

"Good luck, Nessie!" Alice chirped.

"I hope so. If I don't get expelled." I looked away, pretending to be interested in the wall.

"You won't," Alice said. I felt a tiny bit better.

Meanwhile, Albus had almost made it to the end of the hall. I dashed over to him, ignoring his gasp of surprise when I suddenly appeared beside him. "Have you ever been to her office before?" I asked.

"No, but I know the way." He said. "I've seen James go there one too many times." He paused. "I was hoping to never be sent there during my years here."

He sounded like a stuck-up nerd. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. This wasn't going to be fun.

Oh well. I'd gotten myself into this entire mess in the first place.


	12. McGonagall's Office

The walk to the Headmistress's office was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Even though Alice had said Professor McGonagall wouldn't expel us, there was still a tiny, nagging fear that she would severely punish me. I twisted my fingers together nervously as we walked through the sparsely populated halls, imagining the curses and jinxes she could use. I mean, not that I _knew_ any of them, but still.

Albus seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me, because his step was a little more jerky than usual and I noticed his accelerated breathing and heartbeat. What if…I suddenly stopped dead. What if Harry was still in the school and he heard about what happened? Dad had told me he'd defeated the most powerful dark wizard of all time. It would be easy, then, for him to pick me off. I gulped.

"What's wrong?" Albus asked, having noticed me stop. Oh God. What if Albus was as good at magic as Harry, and he was only playing stupid so nobody would notice?

"Nothing!" I nearly yelled, striding forward again. "Let's go."

Albus raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else. I was careful to keep at least two feet behind him, my eyes trained on his wand. It might just come down to a battle of reflexes…

"Here we are," Albus said, and I jumped instinctively, a growl slipping from between my clenched teeth. The boy raised an eyebrow, trying to look indifferent.

"Sorry," I mumbled, shamefaced. I took deep breaths, willing my heart rate to go back to normal.

He turned to the statues of two stone gargoyles who appeared to be guarding a door. "Er—can you let me in, please?" he asked. "Professor McGonagall wants to see me."

"Password?" One of the gargoyles asked. I blinked rapidly, trying to find a possible explanation for how that had happened.

"Um…" Albus turned to me, running a hand agitatedly through his hair. I just looked at him disbelievingly.

"Well, how do we get in then?" he asked, sounding rather annoyed. The gargoyles didn't respond.

"Potter!" A stern, sharp voice echoed down the hallway. Albus and I turned to see, thankfully, Professor McGonagall, who looked as severe as ever. She strode up to us. "Poppy sent you both here. Why?" she asked.

"Erm, it's kind of a long story…" I began. "Albus can explain better than I can."

He shot me a terrified look behind McGonagall's back. I sighed inwardly. So much for that.

"Wait," McGonagall said. "Why don't you come into my office and explain?" She turned to the gargoyles. "_Acid Pops!"_

"Certainly, miss," one of the gargoyles said, and the door swung open, revealing a set of stairs. McGonagall stepped aside to let us pass.

I followed Albus up a small flight of stairs into a wide, circular room. A window covered the entire north half, showing off a spectacular view of the grounds. Various instruments and gadgets were placed atop several small tables over the room, and the four walls were filled with portraits. A grand mahogany desk sat in the middle of the room, placed strategically so that the sunlight pooled onto the top.

McGonagall sat behind the mahogany desk and gestured that Albus and I should sit in the two chairs facing the desk. We did, trying not to pay attention to the now-whispering portraits.

McGonagall didn't ask any questions, only looking at us. Albus didn't seem about to speak anytime soon, so I figured that I should be the one to start.

"You see, Professor," I began, "My family and I were hunting, as you know, when I caught the scent of human—"

"Wait," one of the portraits said. We all turned to look at a painting of an old, bearded man. "Did you just say _hunting_?"

"Yes, I believe I did," I said irritably. I didn't like talking pictures. Not at all.

"What does that mean?" the portrait asked, looking mildly interested.

"Phineas—" McGonagall began, but the portrait ignored her.

"It means," I said, "the hunting of animals. Y'know, where you kill them and drink their blood. Well, in my case at least."

Phineas' eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"I believe what the young lady is trying to say is that she is a vampire," another portrait said pleasantly. Now we turned to the picture of an even older-looking white bearded man with half-moon glasses and bright blue eyes. He was smiling slightly. "Am I right?"

"Yes and no. I'm half-human, half-vampire." I explained.

The white-bearded man's expression didn't change. "That is precisely what Minerva was telling me last night," he said. "Vampires in Hogwarts!" Contrary to Madam Pomfrey, this man's tone was wondering instead of repulsed.

"And a shapeshifter," I said.

"And a shapeshifter," the white-bearded man said. "The biggest threat to wizards that I have ever discovered." He didn't sound remotely afraid, though. "And immortal! I didn't believe such a thing was possible. It just goes to show you, even the greatest make mistakes." He shook his head, a small smile on his face.

Albus and I gaped, open-mouthed. "If you don't mind, sir, who are you?" I asked.

"Why, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, of course," the man said.

I blinked at the long name while Albus gasped. "_You're _Albus Dumbledore!" he stammered. "My father told me about you—you were the greatest Headmaster of Hogwarts and—and I'm named after you! I'm Albus Potter!"

Dumbledore's smile widened. "Yes, I do believe Harry told me about that. I was deeply touched." His eyes twinkled behind his glasses. Was that even _possible_ on a portrait?

"My name's Albus Severus Potter," Albus said proudly.

I choked. "_Albus Severus Potter_? What kind of a name is _that_?"

"A better name than Renesmee Carlie Cullen," Albus said scathingly.

I frowned. "Wait—how'd you know?"

"I heard your father yelling it," Albus said. "In fact, I can't think of anyone who _didn't _hear it."

"Oh no," I moaned.

"Can we get back to the story at hand, please?" McGonagall asked, shooting a crisp look at Phineas and Dumbledore.

"Certainly, Minerva," Dumbledore said graciously. He smiled at me and Albus. "Please continue."

"Well," I said, scrambling to remember where I'd even left off, "I was hunting—_an ordinary deer,_ mind you—when I caught a human scent. I think I should explain something to you about hunting: we give ourselves over to the predatory part of our senses. We kind of…shut down rational thinking. So once we catch the scent of blood, we're immediately attracted to it. And once I caught the human scent, I couldn't help myself. I ran toward it, not realizing. Then I kind of…jumped Albus." I glanced over at him. "I managed to stop myself just in time, though."

McGonagall looked sternly at us. "What were you doing in the Forest anyway, Mr Potter? You know students aren't allowed—"

"I wasn't _in _the Forest!" Albus protested. "I was on the edge of it!"

"Is this true, Miss Cullen?" McGonagall's intense stare was making me uncomfortable. It reminded me of Dad when he was telling me off.

"Yes," I admitted. "However—"

"That's enough," she said, cutting me off. "I'm going to let it go this time, seeing as how Mr Potter wasn't in grave danger—_but _I'm going to send supervision in after you every time your family hunts. And for you, Mr Potter, I hope you've learned your lesson. I shall make a new rule stating that students aren't to go within two hundred feet of the Forest. Do you think that's fair?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Albus and I nodded anyway. I didn't need to be Jasper to sense Albus's relief—and mine too, for that matter.

I was about to stand up when a voice spoke softly from the shadows. "Are you sure that is a suitable punishment, Minerva? After all, a student almost lost his life because of Miss Cullen's carelessness. Not that the loss of a Potter would be such a great tragedy."

Fully prepared to glare at the offending portrait, I narrowed my eyes, but they widened when I saw who had spoken.

His portrait was in the very corner of the room, shielded by the shadows (yes, that _was _indeed possible.) It contained nothing but a desk with a roll of parchment and a quill. I had to do a double take to see the man standing there.

He had greasy, shoulder-length black hair and a sallow expression on his thin face. His eyes were the blackest I'd ever seen—even blacker than my family's were when they were thirsty. This was in contrast to his pale skin, which almost glowed. If I'd seen him in real life, I wouldn't have had any doubts at all that he was a vampire.

The man's eyes seemed to burn a hole right through me. "Hasn't your mother ever told you it's rude to stare?" he said softly. "Or do you even have a mother?" His tone turned slightly mocking at the end. I felt my fingers ball into fists.

"I do have a mother, thank you very much," I hissed.

"She doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of raising you, then," the man said, his voice poison. "Talking back to your elders and attacking a student!"

"I'll have you know she is an excellent mother!" I yelled, my voice becoming louder as his got softer. "It's too bad _your _mother didn't do as good of a job on _you_!"

A ringing silence followed my words. Albus and McGonagall stared. Even Dumbledore seemed to be at a loss for words. I immediately regretted my words. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

The man's eyes glittered malevolently. "Tell me, what House are you in?" he asked, voice deadly.

"Gryffindor," I said, trying to sound brave.

For the first time, a smile curved across the man's lips—only it wasn't a smile. It was a mocking smirk, designed to degrade the person it was directed at. "I am not surprised. You seem to be a typical Gryffindor—arrogant, reckless, and prone to idiocy."

"Pardon me?" I asked, trying to stay calm and failing.

"Oh, and let me add _deaf _to that list," the man said.

"Severus." Dumbledore said softly. I jerked. This was _Severus Snape_? The man whom Albus was named after? "Calm down."

"You expect me to calm down, Dumbledore?" Snape spat, showing his first sign of emotion. "After what this girl—"

"I am perfectly aware of what she said, Severus," Dumbledore said tiredly.

Snape fell silent, though he muttered something that sounded like "Brainless girl" as he continued to stare at me with eyes of pure loathing.

This was too much. "What happened to _you_?" I asked Snape with all the hatred I could muster. "Who shoved a stick up your arse? A girl turned you down or something?" I raised an eyebrow. "Well, I can't blame her."

And with that, I stormed out of the Headmistress's office, feeling thirty pairs of eyes on me.


	13. The Letter

My irrational anger had already begun to ebb as soon as I stormed out of the office, and was replaced with regret. I felt a blush cover my cheeks as I thought of my foolish outburst. I must have sounded three months old. _Why_ couldn't I control my temper?

Nobody followed me out of the office, so I assumed they were either trying to calm Snape down or the outburst hadn't mattered that much. I prayed that the latter was correct.

Footsteps sounded around the corner and guess who appeared? None other than Harry Potter.

I was a lucky person, wasn't I?

"Oh, hello, Renesmee," Harry said, smiling as he noticed me. "How are you?"

"Fine," I lied.

Harry raised one eyebrow. "Are you sure? You look kind of distressed."

"No I'm not!" I said too quickly.

I could tell Harry knew I was lying, but he seemed to sense I didn't want to talk about it and so, thankfully, he changed the subject. "Have you seen Al?" he asked. "I need to talk to him."

"He's in McGonagall's office," I mumbled.

Harry frowned. "Pardon?"

"He's in Professor McGonagall's office," I said louder. "She wanted to speak to him."

"That doesn't sound like Al," Harry mused. "Is he in trouble?"

"No, actually it was my fault he's there." I admitted.

"What?"

God. One tiny mistake and I had to go through _this_? "Uh, I was hunting and, uh, I kind of, uh, attacked Albus." Uh.

"You _attacked_ Al?" Harry asked.

"I didn't mean to! I was hunting and he smelled so appealing and I swear I didn't mean to and I leapt at him and then I realized it was him so I jumped off of him and he has a broken arm but Madam Pomfrey fixed it and did I say I didn't mean to?" I said this all in one breath.

Harry was silent.

"Please don't kill me!" I squeaked. "It was a mistake!"

"Why would I kill you?" Harry asked, jerking out of his reverie and looking shocked.

I was confused. "Because I came close to…" I gulped. "…hurting your son?"

Harry still looked puzzled. Then he seemed to realize something and, to my astonishment, he _smiled. _"That doesn't deserve a death sentence! I know you didn't mean to hurt him intentionally. Accidents happen. Besides, Al can defend himself if he needs to. He's stronger than he looks, you know."

I shook my head furiously. "You don't understand! You're all acting like it's no big deal but it _is_!"

"Renesmee, we're not Muggles—er, ordinary humans. It takes a lot more to hurt us. I don't know if you've ever seen a game of Quidditch, but most of the injuries we get would kill the _humans _you speak of. I'm not saying you're to be completely excused, but it's not a big of a deal as you think. You'll understand later. Besides, we can be cured faster than Muggles. Ask your grandfather Carlisle."

It took a second for his words to sink in, and in a moment of sheer recklessness, I threw my arms around his waist and hugged him. "_Thank _you," I said fervently.

He was momentarily stunned, but gingerly hugged me back. "You're welcome."

Too relieved to be embarrassed, I drew back, beaming. "While we're on the topic, can you tell Albus that I'm not trying to kill him?" I asked lightly. "He's under the impression that I'm about to go for his throat at any moment."

Harry chuckled. "Sure. Al's not one for trusting people at first sight, anyway. Don't take it personally."

"I won't," I promised, then asked, "Hey, how are Carlisle and Esme? They're staying with you, right?"

Harry nodded. "Esme is very nice. Lily absolutely _loves_ her—Ginny's really happy about that. She can finally work in peace while Esme keeps Lily occupied." He chuckled.

I smiled too. "And Carlisle?"

"Carlisle is absolutely fascinating," said Harry. "He's been telling us stories about your family. It seems wizards still have much to learn about vampires. I don't think we've ever come across your kind before. Or a half-human, half-vampire," he added, on second thought.

"Everyone here had been avoiding us because we're vampires, though," I said, trying not to sound whiny.

"Don't worry," Harry replied. "They'll come around eventually." He suddenly stopped, "Do you hear shouting?"

I listened and found that I could hear muffled yelling coming from inside McGonagall's office. "Oh damn," I whispered. "I've got to get out of here."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I insulted Snape's portrait."

Harry burst out laughing. "You insulted _Snape?"_

I nodded. "But he insulted me first, though!"

"What did you say?" It seemed that Harry, instead of being disapproving, was pleased. But hadn't he named his son after him…?

I heard footsteps clomping their way down the stairs. "Ask Albus," I said hurriedly. "But I've gotta go—"

"Wait," Harry said, reaching in his pocket for something. "Carlisle wanted me to give you this letter." He handed me an envelope.

"Thanks!" I said, stuffing it into my pocket, and fled.

Luckily, I managed to get back to the Gryffindor common room unscathed. Thank goodness for my photographic memory, or else I would be totally lost.

Jake and Rose (oh crap, I'd forgotten to ask Harry about Albus's changed behavior around Scorpius) were sitting on the armchairs when I walked in. As soon as he saw me, Jake's worried expression turned relieved. "Where the hell were you?" he demanded, striding over to kiss me hard on the lips. "You were gone for nearly two hours!"

"It's a long story," I admitted as Jake led me over to the couch and I curled up in his lap.

"Did you not find anything to hunt?" Rose asked, looking up from her homework.

I smirked. "The opposite, in fact." I then proceeded to tell them everything that had happened, including me visiting Albus in the hospital wing and my argument with Snape. When I was finished, both of them looked at me wide-eyed.

"Al's hurt?" Rose exclaimed, jumping up. "I have to go see him!"

"He's not really," I said. "Madam Pomfrey fixed his arm."

"Still," Rose said, "I want to try and talk with him, if he's not with Scorpius Malfoy."

"Go to the Headmistress's office," I said. "He's probably still somewhere around there."

Rose nodded and hurried out of the common room, leaving Jake and I alone. The other Gryffindors had already gone to bed, so the common room was deserted.

"Awesome, Ness," Jake said, grinning at me. "You finally lost your temper. Too bad it wasn't at a _real person._"

I mock-glared at him. "How about I take it out on you, then?"

"Hey!" he said. "You know what I meant!"

Shaking my head, I readjusted my position to get myself more comfortable when I remembered the letter. I pulled it out of my pocket and ripped open the envelope. "It's a letter from Carlisle and Esme," I explained to Jake.

The piece of parchment was covered with Carlisle's smooth, steady script, perfected by centuries of writing. I read it aloud:

_Dear Nessie,_

_How was your first day at Hogwarts? Harry told us you and Jacob were sorted into Gryffindor. Congratulations! It must be a real honor to be attending Hogwarts. Apparently it's one of the most prestigious magical schools in the world. I know it must be hard, seeing as how you can't do magic, but it would still be fascinating to learn about witches and wizards._

_We're staying at Grimmauld Place with the Potters. They're a very nice family—have you met James and Albus yet? They're the Potters' sons who are also at Hogwarts. James is in his second year, and Albus is in his first year like you. Hopefully you'll make friends with them._

_I've been studying wizard medicine and it seems as if it's a lot more advanced than what I'm used to. In fact, there's even a wizarding hospital, St. Mungo's, here in London. Ginny has kindly offered to take me there tomorrow and show me around. _

_Can you please tell Jacob that I've contacted Sam and explained everything to him? As you can probably imagine, they're confused but as long as you and Jacob aren't in any danger they're fine with it. I doubt spells will have much effect on you. Have you tried it out yet? There's just so much to learn about the wizarding world, I can't believe I've never heard about it before! _

_On a more somber note, can you inform the others that the Volturi are _not _to learn about magic? Of course, they might already know, but that seems highly unlikely. They never mentioned anything about it to me when I was with them, but they might have learned since. I highly doubt it, though._

_We should come visit Hogwarts soon and, again, we hope that you're having an excellent time there. Esme sends her love._

_Oh, and can you pass on this letter to the others? They can write back if they wish._

_Love,_

_Carlisle and Esme_

_P.S. Sam has also informed me that Seth and Mariana have set a date for their wedding; July 25 of next year. You're to be a bridesmaid, Nessie. Also, Alice will be the official wedding planner._

I grinned as I finished reading it. I was happy about Seth and Mari's wedding. Carlisle had a way of making everything sound all right again. Maybe there would be hope yet.

"Did you hear the part about Seth, Jake?" I asked. "…Jake?"

Jacob didn't answer. He was too busy snoring, his head lolling over the edge of the couch. I rolled my eyes. "Never mind. I'll leave the letter here so you can read it tomorrow." I gently kissed his forehead. "Good night."

I clambered off of him as gracefully as I could and headed up the stairs to the dormitory, thinking that even though today might not have been the _best _day ever, it certainly had been eventful.


	14. Saving Albus

**I just wanted to say thanks to all my reviewers and people who have put this on their alerts and favourites! It means a lot to me. **

**I know the story is kind of slow-paced right now, but it should get more exciting soon. **

**So, without further ado, here's the "new" part of the story. Never before published, lol. If you read this story last year, here's where it left off.**

* * *

"…Listen, Carrots, werewolves do _not _need a full moon to transform! You've got your facts all wrong."

"Really? Then how can you explain the fact that every single werewolf, apart from you, follows those rules exactly?"

I sighed. Jake and Rose, arguing again. They'd been oddly quiet for the past few weeks…but I supposed it was just a temporary peacetime. I could only luck out for so long.

It was the middle of October and we'd been at Hogwarts for a month now. Luckily, things seemed to have settled down. The students at Hogwarts had accepted for the most part that several vampires (and a werewolf) were in their midst. We were still generally avoided, but at least people weren't actively terrified of us now. After the_ Daily Prophet_, the wizarding newspaper in Britain, had done an article on how harmless vampires (or at least _their _idea of vampires, we had yet to meet one of them though) were, everyone had warmed up to us a tiny bit.

As for day-to-day life, it was frustrating not being able to take part in the lessons, and a little more than humiliating, but I couldn't do anything about it. Instead, I tried to focus on the theoretical part of magic whilst trying to learn as much about the magical world as I could. The rest of my family was doing the same thing, as were Carlisle and Esme back in London. We had to arm ourselves with as much knowledge as possible. Our one greatest fear that we never spoke of was that the Volturi, who hadn't bothered us for eleven years, would somehow find out about what we were doing. It was very strange, according to Carlisle. They had never spoken about it in all the years that he'd been with them, and Dad had said he had never heard any hints of it in their thoughts. The magical populace had done their job of hiding who they really were well—even better than us.

Sometimes, when I saw someone casting a spell or objects floating in mid-air, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Even though I was part of the supernatural myself, magic was almost too much. Even though it could barely affect me…

Yes, we'd had spells cast at us before. A few Slytherin students had tried to hex Jasper and Rosalie one day. The spells had just bounced off them like stone—as they were. McGonagall had taken all of us up into her office and tested out the theory. No spells she tried seemed to affect us—not even Jake. The exception was me. Since I was half-human, I could feel only part of the spell, but only a weak echo. For example, she'd used _Stupefy, _the Stunning spell, and I'd only felt off-balance for the tiniest part of a second. She said nothing could seriously harm me. I just hoped she was right.

I also had a feeling we'd be staying at Hogwarts longer than we anticipated…this wasn't a two-and-a-half-month quick visit. This was long-term—the existence of a supernatural world other than our own had so baffled every single one of us that I had a feeling we wouldn't think of vampires as the most powerful beings on Earth ever again. Though they couldn't do much damage to us, (or so it seemed), wizards and witches were powerful, and we were sure to remember that. In fact, they'd created a whole _society _for themselves all over the world—which was more than I could say for us. I was in awe of them.

"Hey, Nessie." Jake wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "What's so interesting about the Slytherin table?"

I blinked twice, startled out of my thoughts. I'd been so distracted that I hadn't realized where I was staring. "Uh, sorry, Jake. I was just thinking."

"About what?" He seemed to be ignoring Rose, who across from us was staring at him angrily.

I opened my mouth, but didn't get a chance to answer because Alice danced over to us, beaming from ear to ear. "Hunting tonight," she said to me. "Are you up?"

"Yes," I replied, giving her a high-five. "Hopefully I won't kill the Potter boy this time."

"Shhh," she said playfully. "That's supposed to be a secret, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Oops," I said.

"You've got to learn to keep your mouth shut, Nessie." Alice shook her head in mock disappointment and skipped off to see Jasper.

No one except for us, McGonagall, Rose and Albus knew about the "attack" last month. I was planning to keep it that way, too. If word got around, I would be regarded as unsafe, unstable, vicious, etc. McGonagall had drilled it into me so many times that if _anyone _else found out, their parents would want them sent home straightaway. This would inevitably lead to us getting expelled.

So that was that. Albus hadn't told anyone about the incident, not even Scorpius. I was surprised—I'd thought the boy wouldn't be able to keep secrets. Or perhaps McGonagall had explicitly warned him not to, as she had done with me. Whatever the reason, Dad had assured me that not a word of it had left Albus's mouth. He hadn't even told anyone about my special "talent" that I'd shown him in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Speaking of first-year Slytherins, I had gone to great pains to avoid the near-inseparable pair of them. I was sure everyone was happier this way. I wouldn't have to stomach Malfoy's insults, and they wouldn't have to stomach me _actually _attacking this time.

The only unhappy person in this new situation was Rose, who I'd become quite close with. She was still heartbroken over Albus going to the "dark side", as she called it. Her family had sent her countless letters trying to cheer her up, but to no avail. She still tried in vain to make it up to her cousin, who simply pretended she didn't exist.

Harry and Ginny were apparently getting worried over their youngest son's seemingly "new" behavior too. Carlisle's letters told of Albus becoming distant and hostile even to them, and how they didn't know what to do next. I was sorry for them, but tried to keep myself out of it: it was their business. I'd tried to help before and it only ended up in me being called a "filthy Muggle."

There was a shriek and a splash across from me. I turned to see Rose soaking wet. Her glass of orange juice had overturned and spilled all over her robes.

"What did you do that for?" she demanded, glaring at Jake.

He looked genuinely surprised. "I didn't!"

I was sure I had a pretty good idea of who _did. _I looked over at the Slytherin table to see Scorpius Malfoy lower his wand from where he'd been pointing it at Rose and smirking.

Anger surged through me, so strong that I had to literally clench my teeth to keep from screaming. The stupid little boy better watch out. He had no idea of what was coming for him if he kept this up…

But when I looked his way again, he was already gone. Albus Potter sat alone at the table.

"Nessie. Calm down," a voice said. I turned my head to see Dad at the Ravenclaw table, shaking his head warningly at me.

_Did you see what he did to Rose? _I thought furiously.

"Yes, but that's no reason to get upset. Remember what almost happened to the Potter boy."

I was still angry, but I had to admit Dad was right. I couldn't go hunting Malfoy down…it was broad daylight. Someone would be sure to see me.

"He's not worth it, honey." This was Mom. "Let it be."

I looked back over at the Slytherin table. Now Albus had left as well. I caught sight of him leaving the Great Hall—probably to find Scorpius so they could torture Rose some more. I felt another wave of anger course through me.

"Hey, there goes the Potter brat," a sneering voice said from a few meters beside me. My eyes flickered over to see two sixth-year Slytherins with truly evil smiles on their faces staring after Albus.

"Want to go show him what a _real _Slytherin is?" the second one asked.

"You're on." The two high-fived and jogged after their victim.

Later on, I would never be able to explain what came over me. I stood up abruptly and left the Great Hall, ignoring Jake and Rose calling after me.

The scent of the two Slytherins lingered in my nostrils, making it almost too easy for me to track them down. They were in one of the dungeon corridors, near the Potions classroom.

I slipped into my hunting crouch as I approached the spot where they were, being careful to stay out of sight. However, this wasn't a hard feat, as the dungeon corridors were dark and shadowy. Even with my brightly colored hair, human eyes were still too weak to see more than ten or so meters in front of them here.

The two Slytherins had cornered Albus at the end of the hallway. He was pressed up against the wall, looking terrified up at them.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly.

"You're a Potter, Potter," the first one spat. "And Potters don't belong in Slytherin, especially with a father like yours. Why don't you go to Gryffindor, like your brother? At least he had the brains enough to be Sorted there."

"The—the Sorting Hat said I would do well in Slytherin, like it said to my dad!" Albus protested weakly.

It was obvious he was fighting a losing battle here. The teenagers just laughed mockingly at him. "Prove it, Potter. How about we have a little duel here? Then we'll see who is _really _worthy enough to be in Slytherin."

"It's two against one! That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair. But since I'm feeling…_generous _tonight, I'll give you a free jinx." The taller of the two boys laughed.

"Can't you just leave me alone? Please?" Albus asked, drawing farther into his corner. I was reminded inexplicably of a foxhunt, when at the end the fox realizes it is doomed.

"Aw, the poor wittle baby wants the big boys to leave him _awone_!" the shorter one said contemptuously.

And he punched Albus square in the face. He recoiled back into his corner with a cry of pain. I heard his glasses hit the ground.

The boys' laughs echoed down the hallway. "Can't even fight the Muggle way, Potter? You're a sad case…you should be glad we're here to toughen you up."

"Who's going to come save you now, poor wittle Potter?" I saw the shorter boy's arm move backwards as he prepared to throw another punch.

"I am," I said, stepping out of the shadows.


	15. Reunion?

**I have some good news and bad news. The good news is, I'm updating a day early! xD But the bad news is I'm not gonna update until Sunday at the earliest. But I tried to make this chapter not so much of a cliffhanger, and hopefully you'll get a sense of satisfaction at the end of it so you won't spend six days wondering what's going to happen next. ;)**

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The two Slytherins turned, looking angry that someone had interrupted them. But their frowns turned to smiles the second they saw me.

"It's the vampire girl!" one breathed.

"Merlin, she's even more gorgeous up close," the other one said.

My eyes narrowed. "Leave Albus Potter alone."

They turned around to look at him. He was crumpled up in a ball, panting heavily and looking like a beaten puppy. It was actually sort of pathetic.

"We might consider it…if you give us a little treat first." The taller one was obviously the leader. He stepped forward, looking me up and down.

I was disgusted. "Never in my _life _would I consider doing what you want." I took a step towards them.

"Then I guess it's an early grave for young Potter here." The second one spat on the floor beside Albus.

I was beside them in a second. They blinked, surprised at my sudden movement. But before they had time to react, I'd grabbed them by their wrists and twisted them.

The leader cried out in pain. "Let us go!"

My response was to tighten my hold. This time I heard their joints crack.

"This is barely a taste of what I can do," I said in a low voice, my rage barely concealed. "Do you want to learn more?"

"N—no!" they both said. Cautiously, I let them go and took a step back.

Once the leader had ascertained they were both alright, it was back to the drawing board. He took a step toward Albus.

Within a second, I had him pinned against the wall. His eyes bulged, terrified.

"Didn't you hear me the first time? Leave the boy and everyone else _alone." _I shoved him out of my way, revolted. He fell to the ground just like his hapless victim.

"Damian! Come on, let's get out of here!" The second boy shot a frightened glance at me before darting over to his friend.

Damian was only too happy to oblige. He stumbled to his feet and the two of them flat out sprinted away. I briefly considered going after them, just to show them how fast I could really run, but decided against it.

Once they'd disappeared, I turned back to Albus. He'd staggered to his feet and retrieved his glasses.

He looked even worse than when I'd attacked him in the Forest. Even though his arm wasn't broken, I could see a black eye starting to form where Damian's friend had punched him. His nose was also bleeding; I held my breath so as not to become tempted by the smell.

"Thanks…you saved me," he said thickly, attempting to wipe off his bloody face with the sleeve of his robe. "Why?"

I hesitated before answering. "Because you're Rose's cousin and she loves you. Besides, I couldn't just stand there and let them beat you half to death. And your father said you could take care of yourself!"

"I can…but they surprised me."

"Ninety percent of being able to stand up for yourself is being able to stand up for yourself _at all times. _Honestly, perhaps I should get your brother to jinx you more!" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Albus was still trying to stem the blood flow, but to no avail. It was soaking into his robes and dripping on the floor. Even without oxygen, I could still imagine what the taste would be…

The boy suddenly stepped back in alarm. I looked at him questioningly, glad of a distraction.

"You drink blood," he explained, as if I didn't know that already. "And I'm bleeding…"

"I'm not hunting at the moment. I'm able to…suppress the urges." I smiled, remembering the time Emmett had used that line on Rosalie. Too bad they couldn't suppress _all _their urges…

"Are you sure?" he asked warily. "I mean, look what happened last time…"

"If I was going to attack you, I'd have done so by now. Now quit whining and suck it up." My dislike of him came rushing back.

"Should I go to the hospital wing?" he asked, more to himself than me.

"I honestly don't care what you do. But first, you are coming upstairs to talk to Rose." I crossed my arms.

Albus's eyes popped. "What are you talking about?"

"I rescued you, remember? You owe me."

"That wasn't rescuing—that was making up for when you nearly killed me last month! Now we're even."

"I can tell that you want to talk to her," I said, ignoring his comment. "And your little friend Scorpius Malfoy isn't around. He never needs to know about this, does he?"

"You're wrong. I don't want to talk to her." Albus began to walk away, but I blocked his path.

"Yes, you do. She's your cousin, and according to her, you two were best friends before Hogwarts."

"So?" Albus mumbled. "I have eight other cousins, and besides, we're in different Houses."

"Don't give me that 'I can't talk to her because she's in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin.' You know what? If you really believed that, you wouldn't have even spoken to me in the first place, much less thanked me! So go talk to her."

"But—"

"_Now._" I glared at him, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

It worked. He shuffled slowly out of the hallway, keeping his head down.

"You know," I called after him lazily, "you really _should _grow a backbone someday. Or else people are going to push you around for the rest of your life. Take what just happened as an example. No one is going to save you all the time."

"I never _asked _you to save me," he muttered.

"I bet you would have, if you'd seen me beforehand. Oh look, there's Rose now." I pointed at the top of the dungeon staircase, where she and Jake were hurrying down.

"Nessie! Why'd you run off so quick—Al! Are you hurt? There's blood all over your robes!" Rose looked like she was about to cry at the sight of her cousin.

Jake, however, ignored Albus and went straight for me. "Why _did _you run off?" he questioned, wrapping his hands around my waist. "Alice told us to wait until now."

I smiled inwardly. Good old Alice. She'd known what I was going to do all along. "I was saving _him_," I jerked my thumb at Albus, "from two other Slytherins."

Jacob looked astonished. "Why?"

"He's Rose's cousin—"

"No, I mean, why did you follow him in the first place?"

I blinked. "I…don't know. I overheard the sixth-years saying they were going to show him what a real Slytherin was, and I couldn't just leave him to get beaten up!"

Jake shook his head, still looking bewildered. "I guess that's why the kid looks like he's been to hell and back, then. You're too nice for your own good, Nessie."

"I know." I smiled and took his hand.

Meanwhile, Rose and Albus were having a conversation of their own. "Scorpius—he's evil, Al! I don't like him." Rose was saying fervently.

"He's nice once you get to know him," Albus objected.

"So what you're saying is you're ditching me for your new friend?" Rose asked.

Albus hesitated, looking trapped. The truth was finally starting to dawn on him. "Rose…" he began.

"Don't _Rose _me. You know exactly what the answer is. It's me or Scorpius, Al. Choose." She was utterly serious. Seeing such a somber expression on an eleven-year-old was unnerving.

"Perhaps we should leave," I murmured.

But Jake shook his head. "No, I want to see this."

"Typical," I whispered under my breath.

More people finishing breakfast were beginning to spill out of the Great Hall. Several students were watching Albus and Rose curiously.

"I'm _waiting, _Al." Rose was oblivious to the gathering crowd.

Albus was more observant, however. His eyes darted from person to person, trying to find someone who would rescue him. But no one stepped up, and he was finally forced to face his cousin, whose face was turning as red as her hair.

"Scorp is one of my best friends, Rose. But you're my cousin…"

Rose seemed to take this as him picking her. Her face broke out in a smile and she ran forward to hug Albus.

He smiled, his first genuine smile, and he hesitantly hugged her back. There was a collective "Aww" from the surrounding audience.

"Vhat a bee-_utiful _reunion!" A voice rang out, and a stunning girl stepped out from the throng. She was a seventh-year Ravenclaw, and a badge on her chest proclaimed her as Head Girl. She had long silvery blonde hair that fell like a sheet down her back, and her gray eyes held a haughty look. She reminded me inexplicably of Rosalie.

"Victoire, stop," Rose groaned, pulling away from Albus. _Victoire_…I recognized that name from one of the conversations I had had with Rose. This must be her and Albus's eldest cousin.

"Eet is just you two 'ave been apart for so long!" Victoire said. She had a heavy French accent.

"A month isn't that long," Albus said. He looked embarrassed.

"Eet should be to you two—you 'ave been best vriends since you vere born!" Victoire exclaimed. She turned to the fifty or so people who had gathered around. "Dominique! Come look at 'zis!"

A second-year Ravenclaw shuffled out of the crowd. Dominique, Victoire's younger sister. She was just as beautiful as Victoire, but it seemed almost as if she had gone to great lengths to make it not so. Her strawberry blonde hair was cut in a short bob, and her bright blue eyes looked disinterested. "Albus and Rose. Together again. Great," she said sarcastically. I noticed her voice held a trace of a French accent as well, though it wasn't near as pronounced as her sister's.

"Dominique, you must not be so down!" Victoire said. She wrapped her arm around her younger sister's shoulders. "Be happy for your cuzzins!"

"I am," said Dominique, sounding utterly bored. She began inspecting her fingernails.

"What's all this fuss?" A chocolate-skinned fourth-year Gryffindor boy appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, Fred, Albus and Rose have become friends again!" Victoire said. She seemed about ready to clap.

The boy grinned and leapt over the banister to clap Albus on the back. "Good job, cuz!" he said.

Albus said he had eight cousins, not including Rose. So that meant _with _Rose he had nine, and counting his siblings there were twelve children in all in the extended Weasley family.

Yikes.

A second-year Hufflepuff girl with the same skin color and facial features as Fred peered around an older boy. "Really?" she asked. I guessed this was Roxanne, Fred's younger sister and another cousin.

"Yeah!" Fred said, ruffling her hair. "Isn't that great?"

"Guys, stop," said Rose. "There's no need to make such a big deal out of it."

"_You _were making a big deal out of the original situation," said Dominique sullenly. I had to admit she had a point.

The six cousins huddled together in the Entrance Hall, talking and whispering amongst themselves. Most of the students, seeing that the exciting part was over, began to leave for class.

I heard a heartbeat and footsteps behind me, along with a vaguely familiar scent. "Are you guys having a family reunion without me?" James Potter yelled. He stopped beside me and Jake, frowning in mock disappointment.

"Go away, James!" Roxanne yelled. Everyone laughed.

"_Are _they having a family reunion?" James asked me.

I shrugged. "No idea. But Albus and Rose made up again."

James swore under his breath. "Seriously? Al was acting so weird…what made him finally crack?"

"Me," I admitted, quickly explaining the confrontation earlier this morning. "I didn't know it would turn out this well, though."

James's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Merlin's pants…you really _must _be magical."

I shrugged. "Maybe."

The second-year then dove into the family group, leaving Jake and I alone. I jerked my head at him, smiling slightly, to communicate it was time to leave.


	16. Not Again!

**Okay, so, everything kind of...changes again in this chapter. I know a lot of you are going to hate me for what happens in this chapter and the next, but without giving too much away, I'll say that things are _not what they seem._ That's the only clue I can give you right now. xD I'm just saying this so I won't get a bunch of hate reviews. I hope.**

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"That is one huge family," Jacob said as we walked hand-in-hand to Herbology. "Is that all of them?"

I tried to remember what Rose had told me about her family the first day we'd arrived. "Um, the rest haven't started Hogwarts. There's Louis, Victoire and Dominique's brother, who's eight, I think. Then there's Molly and Lucy, the twins. They're nine. Hugo, Rose's brother, and Lily are nine too."

Jake's eyes widened. "So I guess Hogwarts will be infested with them in a few years' time."

I mock-punched him in the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry. I know Carrots is your friend."

"She's your friend too."

Jake immediately shook his head, but I gave him a knowing look and he finally relented. "Fine…she's not that bad. She's actually quite funny, if a bit of a know-it-all."

I laughed. "I seem to remember you calling me a know-it-all before…"

"You're not as bad as she is, though." Jake quickly covered up his slip.

We had just reached the greenhouse when I heard someone calling my name. I turned. "Rose!"

She was running toward us, huffing and puffing. Her hair was wildly tangled and she looked disheveled, but there was a huge smile on her face.

"I take it you two made up okay, then?" I asked as she caught up to us.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm so happy!" And she hugged me. She seemed to be in that kind of mood today.

I gingerly hugged her back. "I can tell."

"It's all thanks to you, though, Nessie."

"Huh? How?"

"You saved Al from the Slytherins, and then you made him apologize to me. None of this would have happened if not for you!" She hugged me again.

"Well, it was the least I could do, Rose. You've been such a good friend this past while."

Her smile grew even wider as we entered the greenhouses. However, _my _smile fast disappeared as I saw what we were doing today: feeding the Venomous Tentaculas. This was normally a job for older students, but Professor Sprout felt that we "could handle it." Despite the plants not being able to hurt me, I was still terrified.

Jake and I sat down with Rose, who was still beaming, on the Gryffindor bench. Jasmine and Maria, who I'd become close with as well, followed a couple of minutes later.

"I miss Carlisle and Esme," I said in an undertone to Jake as we watched the rest of the class file in. "It's been over a month since I've last seen them."

"You know what? I do too actually," Jake replied, sounding surprised.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't. You've been living with us for eleven years."

"No, I don't think that's it. I wouldn't mind at all if Blondie left."

"Rosalie."

"Whatever."

Class started then, and we all listened as Professor Sprout again demonstrated how to approach the plants without being strangled, bitten, or both. A spell called _Diffindo _was used to sever the plant in extreme cases. However, this obviously wouldn't work in our case. We were left on our own. This was how it went in most classes, however, so I was used to it by now.

When she'd finished the lecture and everyone was sent to their plants, I snuck over to Alice. "You saw what happened, didn't you?" I whispered.

My aunt nodded, smiling. "I was surprised, though. I had no idea you would do that."

"Me neither," I admitted. "But it got Rose and Albus together again."

She turned solemn. "Actually, it didn't."

"What? Why not?"

"In exactly two minutes and forty-five seconds, Scorpius Malfoy will confront Albus and demand to know why he is 'fraternizing with the enemy.' Albus will reply that he doesn't know. To make a long story short, Albus will go back over to Scorpius's side within the hour, and completely deny the whole ordeal this morning ever happened." Alice pried open the mouth of the Tentacula and, ignoring its sharp teeth, stuck a piece of what looked like meat inside.

Meanwhile, I stared at her, shocked. "So…that accomplished nothing, then?"

"I'm afraid not, Nessie. Sorry." She turned around then to help Emmett, who was wrestling—literally—with the plant.

I glanced over at the other side of the greenhouse, where Rose was cheerily feeding Jake's plant as well as her own. She was so happy now…I couldn't let my friend suffer again. I had to do something. But what?

I thought hard for the rest of the class, but I wasn't able to come up with any new ideas. I _could _write to Harry and Ginny and demand that they come up to the school to talk with Albus, but that probably wouldn't accomplish anything. Besides, if _they_ hadn't already figured out a solution, who could?

It had started raining as we all trudged out of the greenhouse, pulling our robes over our heads. Most of the first-years ran back up to the school as fast as they could, but Alice, Emmett, Jake and I walked slowly back.

"Alice?" I asked gloomily, pushing thoughts of Albus and Rose out of my head.

"Yeah, Nessie?" She tucked her books inside her robes so as not to get them wet.

"Why is it that you could see wizards and witches right from the start, but you couldn't see the wolves or me for a long time?" I asked.

Alice thought for a minute before answering. "I've thought about that myself. I can see everyone here," she gestured around us, "as clearly as if they were humans or vampires. But I still have trouble seeing the wolves and you," she admitted. "I have to really concentrate…but it's gotten better…"

A sudden idea gripped me. "You don't think that it's because…maybe you…were a witch when you were human?"

"That's impossible," Alice said. "I couldn't be. I don't have magical powers now."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "That's right. Never mind."

All the first-years got to skip afternoon classes that day. We were being taught "An Introduction to Quidditch."

I'd read up on the only official wizarding sport and knew—basically—what it was. It seemed rather pointless to me; however, most sports seemed pointless to me. Perhaps that was because I was half-vampire and could play a hundred times better than any human on the planet? No, that couldn't be it. Sports still interested Emmett…

I mulled over this as I walked with Mom down the Quidditch pitch. Luckily the rain had let up a bit since morning, but the grass still sparkled with water.

"Is Jake going to come hunting with you tonight?" Mom asked.

I frowned as I contemplated her question. "Maybe. I think I can handle myself by now though. He's come with me the other two times since…and I've been fine."

My mother sighed and looked up at me. I'd inherited my height from Dad's (tall) side of the family. "I know," she said. "You've always been remarkably self-controlled."

"So I don't see what the point of me needing supervision is."

"It would make everyone feel better. Besides, I don't think Jake minds being with you. Quite the opposite, in fact." She smiled dryly.

I sighed and ran a hand through my curls. "I know. I just don't like being babysat."

Mom smiled at me. "You're not, don't worry. Jake's not supervising so much as he is simply watching you."

The corner of my mouth turned up in a smile. "Really?"

"Really. He loves you."

"I know. I love him too." I met her eyes and we both grinned.

We hadn't really resolved anything, but I felt better. I hadn't properly talked with my mother in ages.

All the others, except for Alice, had already arrived at the pitch by the time we arrived. They were examining a pile of ordinary-looking broomsticks lying on the ground.

"Do you think we'll actually be able to fly those?" Mom asked.

"No," said Dad. "Like most of the other things here, they only work for wizards."

I wondered why the teachers insisted on bringing us down here when all we could do was watch. But sometimes it was best not to question. "I hate being at such a disadvantage," I grumbled.

"Be glad you can even see the castle," said Dad seriously. "According to Professor McGonagall, Muggles will only see an abandoned ruin with a sign saying 'Danger, keep out."

"Then how come we can see it?"

"Anyone—or anything with that matter—with abilities beyond the ordinary can see Hogwarts. We fit into that category, apparently." He smirked.

"NESSIE!" a voice screeched. I whirled around to see Alice running at top speed toward us.

"What is it?" I asked as she appeared instantly at my side.

"Rose," she said. "She and Albus had the fight."

"Oh, no," I moaned. "But I couldn't think of any ways to help her!"

"Perhaps you couldn't have done anything to stop the situation, but you can sure stop what she's about to do!"

"What?"

"She's up on the Astronomy Tower." Alice's eyes were wide and unseeing as she searched the future. "She's going to jump. She won't die, but she'll be seriously injured."

My heart dropped down into my stomach. "_What? NO!_ She's only eleven!"

"Age doesn't matter. She _will _do it—believe me. You're the only one who can stop her, Nessie!"

"But I don't know how—"

"Just do it!" Alice forcefully pushed me in the direction of the castle.

I looked back helplessly at my family.

"What are you waiting for? _Go__!_" Dad said.


	17. Mystery

I took off, sprinting towards the castle. The Astronomy Tower wasn't too far from here…I could probably reach it within thirty seconds or so…

The rest of the first-years were beginning to come out of the castle. I was moving so fast there wasn't a hope of them seeing me. As I streaked past them, I caught sight of Albus and Scorpius walking together near the back.

My rush of hatred propelled me to run even faster. I reached the castle wall and scaled it, climbing as fast as I could. I reached the top in four seconds and ran along the roof, leaping from turret to turret. This would have been enjoyable if I wasn't in such a hurry.

The Astronomy Tower was in sight now. I leapt off of a windowsill and raced towards the balcony. Rose wasn't there yet, thankfully.

Exactly thirty seconds after I'd begun running, I jumped onto the balcony. My estimation had been right. I was breathing slightly harder than normal, but I barely noticed that.

I yanked open the door to the classroom and nearly banged into Rose. She didn't seem to notice me, though. Tears were pouring down her face and she was sobbing loudly.

"Rose," I said in relief. "Albus turned you away again, didn't he?"

"Y—yes," she cried. "Why does he hate me?"

"Oh, Rose." I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and steered her to a row of desks far away from the balcony. "Albus doesn't hate you."

"Then why did he say he did?" She looked up at me with her tearstained face.

"He's…not himself now, Rose. Scorpius is controlling him. He's being manipulated."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Rose buried her face in my chest and bawled loudly. Feeling awkward, I hugged her gently. "Everything will be okay, Rose," I whispered into her hair.

"No it won't! How do _you _know?" Her words were barely coherent.

"Because…I'll find a way to make it so. I'll get Albus to become friends with you again. Somehow. I promise."

Rose sniffled and lifted her head. "You can? Really?"

"Um, I think so. Just give me time." _And a lot of it._

The red-haired girl took a deep, shaky breath and sat up. "Thank you, Nessie. You know, you're my best friend here."

"Thanks, Rose. You are too. I know it can't be easy being friends with…erm…an eighteen-year-old, but remember that I _am _still eleven. In fact, I'm probably younger than you."

She laughed, wiping her tears away. "That's hard to imagine."

I grinned too, my heart slowing down to its normal pace. Things had been saved…but only by a little bit. Now I had to keep my promise—reunite Rose and her favourite cousin for good.

"Now, are you ready to go down to the Quidditch pitch and try your hand at flying?" I asked. "From what I hear, your family are all great Quidditch players."

She nodded and stood up. "My dad and my uncles all love it. And Aunt Ginny was actually a player for the Holyhead Harpies for a while…" Her mood had changed completely in the past five minutes.

I followed her out of the classroom and outside, while she chattered on avidly about Quidditch. Half of my brain was listening to her while the other half was trying to decide what to do next. Albus and Scorpius were out there. I had to keep her far, _far _away from them.

A few of the students were already zooming around the pitch on broomsticks as we entered the stands where my family was sitting. My eyes picked out Albus and Scorpius, who were still standing firmly on the ground. Good. Hopefully Rose wouldn't notice them.

Alice smiled widely at me as I sat gratefully down beside her. "Good job, Nessie," she whispered.

"Thanks," I whispered back.

"Don't you want to learn how to fly, Rose?" Mom asked her, her tone friendly. Rose had sat down on the bench beside me.

"I do, but I want to wait until everyone else has done it first," she explained. I saw her eyes scanning the pitch and knew exactly who she was looking for.

"Rose!" a voice called from across the field. _Speak of the devil, _I thought. Albus was standing a few feet from the other first-years, waving up at her.

For the tiniest portion of a second, I considered going after him, but decided not to. My family's faces said plainly, _Don't interfere more than you already have. _But how was I supposed to _not _interfere if I'd promised Rose I would help her? Ugh.

"Al?" Rose yelled back. Hurt flashed across her face.

I quickly scanned the crowd for Scorpius. He didn't appear to be there. Strange. He'd been standing next to Albus just a second ago…

Meanwhile, Albus was running as fast as he could toward us, which was still painfully slow. Rose stood up as he jumped up into the stands.

"Should we go?" Mom asked. "Give them some privacy?"

"I think that would be a good idea," Dad answered. They both stood up.

"No," Alice said softly. I turned to look at her. She was staring blankly at Albus approaching us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Something's not right. Bella, do you mind?"

Mom shook her head, looking puzzled, and a second later Dad's eyes narrowed. She was casting her mental shield, stopping Dad from reading Alice's thoughts. I couldn't ever remember this happening before. What on earth was she seeing?

"Alice?" I asked, but my aunt was frozen.

Now Rosalie, Emmett and Jake were starting to look worried. Jasper was frowning at the strange emotions that even I could feel radiating off Alice. "What's going on?" Jake asked. "Nessie, do you know?"

"No." I was only half-concentrating on his question. Albus had almost reached Rose.

"What do you want?" she asked, crossing her arms angrily.

"Rose," he choked out, not seeming to notice us. "I'm sorry. For—"

"I don't care, Al. It's too late."

"No—you don't understand! Rose, you have to—"

"Go away." But I could hear the tears in her voice. "I've had it with you. I won't let you ridicule me again."

"I can't help it, Rose! It's Scorpius! He's—" He sucked in a sharp breath and glanced quickly behind himself. "You have to—Just give me time. I'm not completely—myself."

"What in the name of Merlin are you talking about, Albus Severus Potter?" Rose snapped. "I'm on to your stupid game! You'll pretend we're best friends again, and then you'll go back to Malfoy!"

Albus jerked at the name. "I swear I won't. Rose, we've been best friends ever since we were born. You know I'm not like this. You know I would never act like…_him_." His green eyes were wide and frightened against the bone white of his face, paler than a human's should be.

"How can you explain the way you've been acting for the past month?" she asked, but her voice was softer.

"I…can't," he said. "But if I say anything bad against you, or…you…" he said, looking directly at me, "I don't mean it. It's…" he gulped. "Not my fault."

Rose stared at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that…we're…" He didn't seem to be able to put it into words.

From down below on the field, a whistle blew sharply. Even I jumped. "Potter! Weasley! Get down here at once!" The flying instructor, Madame Johnson, was glaring up at them.

At the whistle, Albus seemed to jerk out of a reverie. His eyes grew hard and his face turned back into an impassive mask. Without saying another word, he turned around and left.

"Albus!" Rose called after him, but he didn't turn. Casting a nervous look back at us, she ran after him onto the field.

I looked over at my family, who all looked as stunned as I felt. "Alice, is that what you saw?" I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes," she said. "Something is wrong, Nessie. Something is terribly wrong."


	18. Aurelia

We went hunting that night, as planned. Everyone seemed to be tense—or maybe it was just my imagination.

Alice had been oddly quiet all afternoon, speaking softly. Jasper barely left her side, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder. Rosalie seemed annoyed, and even Emmett's cheerfulness had dissipated somewhat. My parents were talking in low, frantic voices. I could tell Dad was still upset about Alice asking Mom to block her mind off from him, and Mom was trying to calm him down. Jake and I appeared to be the only halfway normal ones.

"Why do you think Alice is so worried?" he asked me in a low voice as soon as we had broken off from the others.

I leapt up onto a low tree branch, looking down at him. "I have no idea. But you have to admit, Albus _was _acting weird."

"It's none of our business though," he said. "Why should she care?"

"Maybe it does affect us," I mused, grinning as I caught the nearby scent of a deer. "We just don't know how yet."

Jacob fell silent as I hunted. It was only once I'd killed the deer and was eagerly drinking from it that he started to speak again. "I just want you to be careful, Nessie."

I lifted my head, blood dripping from my mouth. "What?"

"Be careful," he repeated again, looking uncomfortable. "I know how you like to get involved in things. That's one of the things I love about you. It's just that I don't think whatever's going on is…exactly _safe _for you to be involved in."

"Not safe? Jake, their spells don't even affect us!"

"I know, but I have a bad feeling." He looked sheepish, shifting his feet from side to side.

I was astounded. Jacob Black, who had taught me to rebel against my parents and take risks from the time I was born, asking me to be careful? "I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. Maybe I should get a tape recorder and—"

"Don't be sarcastic," he grumbled.

I sighed heavily. "Fine, fine. You have my word of honor that I won't get involved more than is safe."

He still didn't look convinced. It was only when I reached up and kissed him that he relaxed. "Calm down. Everything will be fine."

"I sure hope so," Jake muttered, so low even I almost couldn't hear him.

* * *

After I'd finished hunting, I told Jake I wanted to explore the forest some more and I would meet up with him later. He didn't think this was a very good idea, but I'd explained that it was almost midnight and students definitely wouldn't be out this late—also, I'd said that I was so full I was feeling sick. This wasn't entirely true, but I _was _full enough so that I wouldn't chase after any sweet-smelling scent.

Once I'd finally managed to leave him, I headed deeper into the forest. The trees were so close together that I could barely see the sky. The cries of strange animals and unfamiliar scents surrounded me.

After about ten minutes, I stepped into a tiny clearing. Mist rose up from the grass and hovered in the air, blurring the huge trees. I felt oddly safe here; protected. Sitting down in the tall grass, I plucked a piece of grass and stuck it in my mouth as I'd seen humans do in old movies—I wasn't exactly sure why they did it, but it felt sophisticated.

_This is nice, _I thought, lying out flat and looking up at the sky with its array of twinkling stars. _So peaceful and solita—_

A sudden noise made me sit up quickly. I inhaled, narrowing my eyes at the strange aroma. Even though I'd probably come across a hundred different smells so far, this one was entirely new.

Whatever the creature was, it seemed to be moving towards me. I heard a heavy, thudding heartbeat—too slow to be a deer or a human. And a noise that sounded almost like…hoofbeats?

A white shape appeared on the other side of the clearing. Quick as a flash, I jumped to my feet and stared at the creature.

At first I thought it was a horse. It was the whitest horse I'd ever seen in my life—I had a strange urge to look away. But I didn't, and my eyes found its one distinguishing feature: a spiraling horn, stuck in the middle of its forehead.

_A unicorn. _McGonagall had said there were a few unicorns in the Forest, but very few people had ever seen them—the fully-grown ones, at least.

For a while, I could only stare. The animal had a wild, almost savage beauty about it, and it moved in a way that suggested it was very, very old. But unicorns were immortal—weren't they? Isn't that what someone had said?

The unicorn, meanwhile, began to walk towards me, its dark eyes fixed on mine. I was transfixed, as if an invisible force was holding me in one place.

It stopped about ten feet from me, and lowered its head. _Renesmee Cullen…_the words echoed inside my head, though I hadn't thought them.

"Is that you?" I asked, feeling stupid.

_Yes._

I swallowed nervously. "How do you know my name?"

_I know a lot of things, child. _The unicorn raised its head again. _I am well over two thousand years old._

My jaw dropped open. Two thousand years…

_There is no need to look so stunned, child. You belong to the immortal as well._

"Yes, but I don't know anyone as old as you." My knees began to shake.

_Don't be scared. I am here to help you._

"Why? Do I need help?"

A strange sound emanated from the creature—a sound that was not just inside my head. The unicorn seemed almost to be sighing. _Your life has changed forever, Renesmee. There is no going to back to what it used to be. _

"Just because of magic?"

_Don't underestimate magic, young one. It is far more powerful than any of your clan knows._

"My—my clan? You mean my family?" I wondered vaguely if I sounded unintelligent, asking so many questions.

_Not just your family, but to everyone. Every vampire that exists._

"I…so what you're saying is, magic will change me?"

_Not necessarily. I am not a Seer. I cannot see into the future. But I do know that there is no going back._

I shivered.

_Do not be afraid. You are brave, child, braver than you know. I saw you with Rose Weasley and Albus Potter._

"That's the thing, though," I said. "I don't know what's going on."

_Have patience. You will eventually._

All was quiet until I asked, "What's your name?"

_Aurelia._

"Aurelia? That's a pretty name. You're a girl, then?"

The old unicorn sounded almost amused as she answered. _Indeed._

Propelled by an unknown force, I took a small step forward and reached out a hand, lightly placing it on her neck. "Why did you approach me?" I asked in a hushed voice. "You could have chosen anyone else—Alice is the one who can see the future, Dad can read minds…"

_Perhaps I am able to read minds as well, _Aurelia replied. _And I see you as the one with the most future changes. The rest of your family is content, stable. They've all lived lives, been on adventures. You haven't._

My heart began to beat faster. "What? I know you said magic will change me, but how much? Will it have anything to do with my…adventures?"

_Yes, it will. Enough, I think, so that it will change your entire outlook on life. You are still an infant. You still have years, decades, centuries of maturing. _Aurelia looked at me with her wise, ancient eyes and I sank to my knees on the wet grass, feeling strangely winded.

There was movement beside me and I realized Aurelia was lying down. _You were born to do great things. You just have not figured out exactly what yet._

"What if I just want to live a normal life?"

_I do not think that is possible. Being normal was never your destiny._

I felt oddly gratified. Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion hit me and I yawned hugely.

_Are you tired, child?_

I nodded.

_I can imagine. Sleep here for now. You're safe._

I was going to say that I had to go back to the castle, that my family was waiting for me, but I suspected Aurelia already knew that. Besides, I had so many more questions to ask her…

Automatically, I felt myself curl up against her side, laying my head down. My eyes began to drift closed. I hadn't realized what a draining day today had been. It was hard to believe just this morning I'd saved Albus from the Slytherins…

Aurelia was saying something. Wearily, I turned my focus back to her.

_You will fall deeply in love, and have a romance that is every bit as dedicated and passionate as your parents' was._

_No_, I wanted to say. _I'm already in love with Jake. And besides, I thought you said you couldn't see into the future..._

But sleep was beginning to overcome me, and I felt myself sink into unconsciousness.


	19. Breakout

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I was back in my bed in the Gryffindor dormitory. I blinked sleepily and sat up as everything that had happened yesterday came rushing back into my head. The thing that was the clearest, however, was Aurelia. I had a sudden urge to jump out of bed and rush right back in to the Forbidden Forest to find her. I hadn't even gotten to ask the most important question of all: _How am I supposed to help Rose?_

Speaking of Aurelia…how had I gotten back up here? I had fallen asleep in that clearing, I was sure. I cast my mind back and found that I had no memories of coming back to the castle. And that unicorn definitely wasn't a dream.

The only other explanation was…magic. I shuddered, but it was more in awe than anything else.

While I was pondering, there was movement in the room and the hangings around my bed were thrown open. "Good morning, Nessie!" Rose said cheerily, poking her head around.

"Morning, Rose," I said, getting out of bed. "What's with your good mood?"

Rose glanced around once to make sure Maria and Jasmine were still asleep, then she leaned forward and whispered, "I know there's hope for Al after all."

"What makes you say that?"

"The way he was acting yesterday…it's Scorpius, not him." Rose looked as if she expected me to hand her a Nobel Prize for figuring this out.

"Rose," I began, "I told you that alrea—"

But she wasn't listening to me. She started going on about ways to get him away from Scorpius and possibly have him put in a different House…

While she chattered, I quickly got dressed and darted over to the window. It was still early in the morning and the grounds were wet with dew. A heavy fog hung in the air, so thick that I could barely see past it.

As I struggled to see clearer, I noticed a dark shape moving along next to the lake. Squinting, I concentrated as hard as I could and managed to make it out: it appeared to be a man, wearing a thick coat with a hood that covered his entire head and face. One of the professors, perhaps?

He continued to creep along the edge of the water. Several times I noticed his head turn up towards the castle, as if he was looking for someone.

I heard Rose approach behind me. "What are you looking at?" she asked, stopping next to me.

I pointed. "That man—"

But he had disappeared, swallowed up by the fog.

Rose looked at me strangely. "I don't see anyone."

"No…he's gone now…stupid fog." I huffed and turned away from the window, trying to shake off the feeling I had that something wasn't quite right. "Want to go down to breakfast?"

Rose nodded and we left the room.

* * *

On our way downstairs, we met Mom and Dad just coming out of the library. "Is that where you spend your sleepless nights?" I grinned.

"Yes, actually," Mom answered. "Reading about the magical world is very interesting."

I wasn't sure _reading _was all they did, but I decided not to press the matter and the four of us continued down to the Great Hall.

"Hi, Nessie!" Alice chirped, coming up to us from what I assumed was the Hufflepuff common room. "Did you make it back okay last night? Jacob told us he tried to look for you, but he couldn't find you." She was back to her normal self again.

I frowned. "Yes, I came back…er…just after midnight." I glanced sideways at Dad, but he appeared to be deep in conversation with Mom. I didn't want anyone to know about my conversation with Aurelia last night; there was something private about it. "You didn't have a vision?"

"No," said Alice. Her eyebrows creased for a split second before she seemed to shrug it off. "Anyway, Jacob was really worried. You seem to be going off a lot on your own without him these days," she added.

I felt a stab of guilt. "I know. I should be spending more time with him."

"He's over there," my aunt replied, pointing at the Gryffindor table. "Perhaps you should go see him." She paused. "He's been driving us crazy."

I smirked. "Yeah, I figured."

Bidding goodbye to Alice and my parents, Rose and I made our way over to Jake. However, instead of looking relieved when he saw me, he looked annoyed. "Nessie—"

"I know, I know," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "I'll stop going off on my own and start spending more time with you."

"It's not that—well, okay, fine, it _is _that. But another part of it is I don't know what you're doing, and I'm worried you're getting hurt." Jake looked ashamed to admit this.

I sat down beside him and stroked his face soothingly. _Calm down. Everything's fine._

He seemed to relax after this. At least, he piled half a table's worth of food onto his plate. I figured that showed he was fine.

"Look," said Rose, pointing out an article on the front of page of the _Daily Prophet. _"There's been a breakout from Azkaban."

"The wizarding prison?"

"Yes," she said.

I grabbed the paper and read the article:

_AUGUSTUS ROOKWOOD ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN PRISON_

_One of the most infamous and top-security prisoners in Britain's Azkaban Penitentiary has escaped, confirms Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic.  
"We urge the wizarding community not to panic at this news, but it is my job to inform you that in the early hours of yesterday morning, there was a breakout in Azkaban.  
Fortunately, only one prisoner escaped, the former Death Eater, Augustus Rookwood."  
_

_Of course, Rookwood was sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban nineteen years ago, when he was accused of being a Death Eater and a spy for Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries during the First Wizarding War. He has also been accused of killing numerous Muggles and the wizard Fred Weasley._

"_I'll be the first to admit, I have no idea how Rookwood escaped, but I assure you not to worry or go about your daily routine any differently," says Shacklebolt. "Chances are, Rookwood is in a remote place somewhere and probably not inclined to walk the streets of London."__But the public is also warned that Rookwood is carrying a wand, and is extremely dangerous. If, by any chance, you or someone you know sees Rookwood, they should get away as quickly as possible and report to the Ministry of Magic immediately.  
_

_"The Muggles have also been warned about Rookwood, though, obviously, they do not know his true identity, and they have been told he is carrying a gun." Shacklebolt continues. "The Muggle police have a special hotline set up to report any sightings of Rookwood."  
_

_Continue reading The Daily Prophet for any breaking news or sightings._

"Fred Weasley?" I asked, looking up at Rose. "He was your uncle?"

She nodded. "And Rookwood killed him."

I didn't know what to say, so I settled for putting my hand on her shoulder. "They'll catch him, Rose."

"They better," she said, and her eyes hardened. "Or I will."


	20. The Boggart

**Sorry for the long wait, guys. D: I meant to update last week but the chapter somehow got deleted and I had to write it all over again.**

* * *

Of course, Rose wasn't the only person who had read that article in the _Daily Prophet. _By noon that day, the news that Augustus Rookwood had escaped from Azkaban was all over the school. People, especially the Slytherins, seemed to interpret that the sole reason he had escaped was to kill the rest of the Weasleys. This led to people hissing "You'd better watch out!" at Rose and any other member of her family that passed by.

I would never admit it, but I was slightly grateful for this: it meant the attention had lifted somewhat from us, the Cullens. In fact, nobody really even seemed to care anymore: we were just other students to them now. Students with a bit of a different diet, but students all the same.

In the next few days, Rose received a flurry of letters from her family telling her that a team of Aurors (Dark wizard catchers) had been sent to find Rookwood, including her own uncle, Harry Potter. "If anyone can catch Rookwood, Uncle Harry can," Rose said to me proudly.

I wasn't exactly sure how her cousins were coping with it, but I figured that they all thought in fairly the same way as her. Except for Albus, of course. He stuck closer to Scorpius than ever, looking frightened. I wondered if Rookwood were actually to attack them. Would Scorpius try to protect Albus? The answer was probably no, as he had now taken to treating Albus as if he were a misbehaving puppy.

About a week after the article, Carlisle sent us a letter saying that with Harry gone, he and Esme had left Grimmauld Place and were now living in a large flat just outside of London. Renting a flat seemed odd to me; buying a huge mansion seemed more their style. But even with the amount of castles in Britain, I doubted many of them were up for rent.

Of course, with all that was going on, I'd nearly forgotten about our life back in Forks. "Do you suppose we're going home for Christmas?" Jake asked me wearily one day in early November as we lounged in the Gryffindor common room. I was doing my Charms homework and he was doing…nothing.

I chewed on the tip of my quill thoughtfully as I contemplated. "Well, when does Alice think we're leaving for good?"

"At the end of the school year. June."

"Then it's probably good for us just to go back to Forks and check to see how everyone's doing. Mom's feeding Grandpa some story about us going to a boarding school here." The corner of my mouth twitched upward. "She's not too far off the mark, though."

Jake looked most unhappy. "I'm really feeling homesick. I need to go back to La Push. I don't like it here."

I was surprised. I'd barely felt homesick at all. "Really? I love it here."

"I figured," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "You love it too much."

My eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with that?"

Jacob didn't have an answer to that. He scowled and leaned back in his chair.

I meant to comfort him, but just then Rose came in, and I leapt up to talk to her.

* * *

The rest of November passed by sluggishly, dragging its feet. It was cold, wet and windy most of the time, meaning the only times I ventured outside were to go hunting. I tried looking for Aurelia in the Forest, but the unicorn was nowhere to be found. I hoped she was all right.

Meanwhile, the frantic search for Rookwood had yielded no results. It had been just over a month and a half since he'd escaped. I could tell from the tone of Rose's letters from her parents that they were getting worried. He might have fled the country, they said, but they seriously doubted that. In the meantime, they told Rose not to leave the castle except for lessons. Privately, I seriously doubted Rookwood would want to go to Hogwarts—if I were him, I would want revenge on Harry Potter, the person who had killed his master and sent him into Azkaban—and since Harry wasn't at Hogwarts, there was no need for him to come here.

In all our lessons, the teachers were giving us extra work and teaching us—well, the wizards—additional spells and jinxes that would perhaps help them, were they ever to come across a Dark wizard. But of all these "crash-courses", I found Defense Against the Dark Arts to be the most intensive.

Professor Wood, the Defense teacher, came into class one day in early December with a large briefcase. He set it down on his desk before turning to face the class. "Have any of you ever heard of a Boggart?" he asked.

Rose's hand shot up.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"A Boggart is a shape-shifter. It takes the form of whatever a person fears most. No one knows what a Boggart looks like in its original form. The only way to defeat one is with laughter," she said triumphantly.

Professor Wood looked slightly amused. "Very good. Five points to Gryffindor." He patted the briefcase. "Now, I am fully aware all of you are first-years, but in light of recent events…" He paused. "The Headmistress thinks it wise that you learn how to combat different magical creatures. Normally, I start teaching about Boggarts in third year, but we will make an exception today."

Jasmine Longbottom raised her hand. "So the Boggart will take on the form of our worst fear, and we have to laugh?"

"Yes and no. You have to think of something that makes you laugh, and then you will cast the charm. I will demonstrate for you." Professor Wood took a step backward from the desk and pointed his wand at the briefcase. Everyone exchanged nervous glances with each other.

"On the count of three—one, two…_three_!" Professor Wood flicked his wand and the briefcase burst open. I saw something that looked like a shimmering, indistinct shape for a split second before there was a flash of light and a tall, imposing woman wearing gray robes stood at the front of the room.

She glared angrily at the professor, hands on her hips. "Oliver Wood," she said, her voice reverberating around the room. "You are the poorest, most despicable Quidditch player I have ever known. A troll has more talent on the pitch than you do."

Professor Wood's face twitched. He pointed his wand at the woman and said, "_Riddikulus_!"

A piece of duct tape suddenly appeared over her mouth. Looking surprised, she tried to pull it off, but to no avail.

The class snickered. She whirled around to face us for the first time. I noticed the edges of her were beginning to flicker and go transparent.

"Quick!" Professor Wood called, leaping out of her way. "Someone jump up! Miss Weasley!"

Rose flew out of her chair and ran over to the woman. With another flash of light, the woman disappeared and in her place stood Albus Potter.

Everyone around the room began whispering, looking from the Boggart to the real Albus, who had gone white.

"Go away, Rose," said the Boggart, looking with revulsion at her. "Leave. I never want to talk to you again. You disgusting Gryff—"

"_Riddikulus!" _Rose shouted, waving her wand wildly. Robes were instantly bound tightly around Albus, making it impossible for him to move. He tried to take a step forward, but tripped and fell to the floor.

Jacob laughed. The Boggart began to disappear.

"Next!" Professor Wood called as Rose went back to her seat. "Miss Hale!"

Rosalie, who had been watching the scene with amusement, suddenly looked surprised. "I'm not magical, though!" she said angrily.

"It doesn't matter—the Boggart will have no effect on you. Go!" said Wood.

But she refused to move. Boggart-Albus, who was still struggling on the floor, suddenly disappeared. Rosalie jumped up, about to stalk out of the room. But this meant the Boggart had turned its attention to her, and it changed before she could move.

There were quite a few groans of disgust from the class at its next shape. A hideous woman stood in front of Rosalie. Wait—it _was _Rosalie. Only much, much uglier.

Its hair was matted and tangled. The features were horribly twisted—the eyes were in the wrong places and the nose was just two slits. Its mouth was pulled downward in a grotesque position. The face was covered in huge, red boils. It was ghastly, wrong. I doubted even the worst-looking human in the world came close to this.

Rosalie's eyes were widened in horror as the Boggart advanced on her. "Someone jump in front of it!" Professor Wood called.

But nobody moved. The Boggart grabbed Rosalie by the shoulders. She seemed to be paralyzed with fear.

"I thought it had no effect on her!" I yelled at Professor Wood, forgetting to be polite. In an instant, I was standing up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper standing as well. But even though he was faster than me, I was closer. Forgetting everything except the desire to save my aunt from that—that _thing_, I leapt in front of Rosalie.

The flash of light almost blinded me—which was saying something. In an instant, the Boggart was no longer a horrid Rosalie but Jacob, sprawled on the ground in front of me. His eyes were glassy, staring upward. _Dead._

"No!" I screamed, falling to my knees beside him. All rational thoughts seemed to be gone from my mind, including the fact that the real Jake was very much alive.

I reached out for his hand, but as soon as I touched it a wave of pain shot through my arm. To me, who'd felt barely any physical pain in my life, this was a shock. But I barely had time to process this before the room began spinning around me, like I was on an amusement park ride. Different-colored spots began dancing in front of my eyes.

I barely had time to be surprised before I saw a dark abyss open up in front of me, and I fell into it.


	21. Trapped

"…Nessie? Nessie! _Renesmee_!" That was the first thing I heard. My mother, frantically calling my name. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt as if something was heavily weighing down on them and I couldn't move.

"Calm down, love." That was my father. His voice was soothing, comforting. Even though I knew he was talking to Mom, I couldn't help but relax.

"Why isn't she waking up?" This was Alice now, an edge of panic to her voice. "I had a vision that she would open her eyes exactly five seconds ago!"

Slowly, I began to remember everything: Defense Against the Dark Arts, the Boggart, Jacob dead…I must have fainted. The first time I'd ever done so. But why was it so hard to _think_? It was as if a mist had clouded my brain and everything was in slow motion.

My family's voices continued to float down towards me, but I was having trouble hearing them. Why couldn't I move? Why couldn't I _feel_ myself? It was as if I was trapped in limbo. Had I died?

Then a smell assailed me, though I had no nostrils. It was rotting wood. I could also smell warm blood somewhere close by—but with no heartbeat.

All of a sudden, I was standing in a long, narrow hallway. No…_standing _wasn't the right word—I had no body to speak of. It was as if I was just simply hovering there. Oh God, had my soul somehow left my body? Was I in purgatory?

The carpet below me was torn and ripped, exposing large portions of a decaying wood floor. So that was the cause of the smell. The walls were hardly better off—it looked almost as though large chunks had been torn out of them.

At the opposite end of the hallway was a door. I tried to move toward it, but I was frozen in one position. I couldn't even turn around.

Just as I thought this, the door opened and a figure stepped out. I looked more closely and saw it was a tall, greasy-haired man with long hair messily pulled back in a ponytail. He stooped over to shut and lock the door before turning towards me.

Even though I knew I was nothing, his eyes sought me out right away. A crooked smile broke across his face, showing yellow teeth and a pockmarked complexion. His eyes were dark and full of malice.

"Hello, Renesmee," he said. His voice was almost a croak. "I've been expecting you for some time now."

I tried to speak, but found it impossible. The man's smirk grew wider. "Not so confident, are we now?" he asked. "Now that you don't have your little family to help you?"

Of course, I still couldn't utter a sound.

"My apologies," he continued. "I wasn't aware I'd placed a Body-Bind curse on you as well." He pulled his wand out of his robes and carelessly flicked it. I came tumbling down to the floor.

As soon as I realized I had my body back, I immediately rushed toward him, but ran headfirst into an invisible wall. Surprised, I jumped back and attempted to kick it, but it was stronger than anything I'd ever encountered before.

The man laughed. "How good are your powers now, little half-vampire?"

"Who are you?" I snarled.

"And I was under the impression you were intelligent!" The man shook his head in mock disappointment. "Well, if you _really _don't know…"

"What have you done to me?" I demanded next. "What do you want from me?"

"That is for me to know and you to find out. Today, I am simply giving you a little taste of what I can do. That incident with the Boggart—that was nothing."

"You did something to it! You cursed it so that something would happen!" I accused, pieces of the puzzle beginning to fall into place.

"Yes. You see, you've made me a little bit annoyed, Renesmee," the man said lightly. He took a step towards me. "You stopped young Damian and Aaron last month, saving the Potter fool. Why must you meddle in things that don't concern you?"

I had no answer to that. "But—"

"But nothing. If you do as I say, you and your family will not be hurt. I see you're quite attached to the werewolf."

"Leave Jacob and my family alone," I hissed.

"Aren't you listening? I said if you do as I say, they won't be hurt."

But I knew he was lying. "No," I whispered.

"No what?"

"No, I will not do as you say." But my resolve was crumbling. I knew he could and would kill me.

The man shrugged lightly. "All right. I see you've given me no choice then." He pointed his wand directly at me.

I clasped my hands together and looked up at the ceiling. _Please let this be a dream, please let this be a dream, please let this—_

"_Crucio_!"

I screamed.


	22. The Plot Thickens

When I awoke, I was curled up in a large, comfortable bed in the hospital wing. This time, I woke instantaneously—there was no strange limbo period in which I was helpless.

"Nessie," seven voices chorused, sounding relieved. My family swarmed around me, feeling my forehead and asking how I was.

"F—fine," I said shakily, leaning back into my mother's embrace. Even though I appeared to have blanked out right after the man—who I knew now was Rookwood—cast the spell, I still felt the pain that had ripped through me for the tiniest portion of a second. Had that all been a hallucinatory dream, brought on by the Boggart? Or…was it real? If so, how on earth had that happened?

Meanwhile, my family was interrogating me for every little detail. I explained that I had jumped in to save Rosalie, but just when I was about to explain my "dream" in the hallway, I found I could no longer speak. Panicked, I cleared my throat and began my sentence again, but it was as if something large was stuck in there.

"What's wrong, Ness?" Jacob asked, wrapping his arm around me. "You look pained."

"Yeah—what I was going to say was that I dreamt I was—" But I couldn't speak. Growing steadily more frightened, I quickly said, "Something's not letting me talk. Jake—" That was as far as I got. I searched for words, but they were evading me.

The door to the matron's office opened and Madam Pomfrey came out, having noticed I was awake. "How are you feeling?" she asked brusquely, eyeing me critically. She must still not have forgiven me for the hunting incident.

"Fine," I repeated. "I feel fine." It was true. Other than the fact that I couldn't speak about what had recently happened to me…

"Then I see you're fit to go," the nurse said. "You fainted out of fright and shock, seeing that Boggart. What the professors do these days…" She retreated back into her office, mumbling.

I climbed out of bed and glanced at my watch. It was six-thirty. "Have I missed dinner?" I asked.

"_You_ haven't. I have," Jake replied. "That's alright, though. You were unconscious for quite a while." He didn't sound too happy, however.

I ran a hand through my curls. "You go to dinner. I'm going to go to the…library."

Mom looked worried. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked. "You look a bit paler than normal. Your cheeks don't have the blush in them they normally do."

I reached up a hand to touch my face. "Don't worry. I'm completely healthy." Suddenly, I had an idea. I might not be able to _talk _about the encounter with Rookwood for some odd reason, but I could _show _them…

"Alice?" I asked first.

"Yes?"

"Come here," I ordered.

Looking confused, she walked over to me. I took her hand and concentrated on the memory of the dark hallway, Rookwood sneering at me…

But her expression remained blank. "You're not showing me anything, Nessie. Your thoughts are completely empty."

I whirled around, eyes wide, to face Dad. His brow was furrowed in confusion. "Are you shielding her, Bella? I can't read…"

"No," said Mom, looking puzzled.

The realization hit me at once: It _wasn't _a dream. The encounter with Rookwood had been real. And now he was stopping me from telling anyone.

My stomach rolled and the room began to spin. He hadn't broken out of Azkaban to hunt down the Potter family.

He'd broken out to hunt _me._

But…that was impossible. Why? How had he even _known _about us? And why did his magic affect me when nothing else did? Would it affect the rest of my family, or just me because I was half-human? Was I the weakest link?

Frightened, I looked around at everyone: Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Mom, Dad, _Jake…_Rookwood had said that if I did as he said, they wouldn't be harmed. But I didn't believe him for one second.

I was in danger. What had happened earlier today had proved that. Clenching my fists, I said loudly, "I want to go home."

They looked perplexed. "Home?" Dad asked. "Why?"

"I don't like it here," I said. "I want to go back to Forks."

"What brought this on, Nessie?" Mom asked. "I thought you liked Hogwarts. And besides, we're staying the rest of this year anyway…"

"I need to get away from here," I said, an edge of panic breaking through my voice. "Please. I want to go home."

Everyone exchanged confused glances. "Was it that Boggart?" Alice asked. "If so, I don't foresee it happening again—"

"No, it wasn't the Boggart. I—" My voice wavered. "I'm homesick. Can we at least go home for the Christmas holidays, _please_?"

"If you want," said Dad. "I still don't understand why you'd want to, though."

"I just do. When do the holidays start?"

"End of next week," said Alice. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she scanned the future. "I don't see a problem with that."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Awesome," said Emmett, grinning. "We'll definitely have a lot of stories to tell the werewolves!"

Jacob rolled his eyes at him before taking my hand. "You're shaking," he murmured in my ear. "Something happened."

"I can't tell you what happened," I mumbled, burying my face in his chest.

"A dream?"

"I guess you could call it that. I—" But the strange sensation of my throat being blocked rose up again, and I stopped.

A bell tolled somewhere in the distance. "End of dinner," said Alice. "Want to go hunting?"

Everyone nodded in assent and began to file towards the door, but I held back. "I'm not feeling thirsty right now," I announced. "I'm going to the library."

"I'll go with you," Jake said immediately, but I saw him cast a longing glance outside as his stomach growled.

I smiled ruefully. "Go hunting. It'll be hard for me to get into trouble in the castle."

He seemed torn by the two desires, but I forcefully pushed him in the direction of the others, and he followed along with them willingly enough.

I saw Mom cast me several worried glances, but I pretended not to notice them. Let them think I was just shaken from my accident with the Boggart. Besides, I needed to be alone.

As soon as my family disappeared, I walked along at a fast human pace towards the library. I occasionally went in it to finish homework, but I didn't spend hours there like my parents.

Luckily, it was almost deserted. Madam Pince, the ancient, cranky librarian, glowered at me from behind her desk. "Do you need anything?" she said rudely.

_For you to shut up. _"No thanks."

She continued to glare at me. I ignored her and made my way over to the section on jinxes and curses. I hoped the book that contained the information was here, and not in the Restricted Section. Though, I could probably break in…I stared at the entrance, an ominous-looking iron gate, thoughtfully.

"Renesmee!" a voice whispered from behind me. I turned to see Albus Potter sitting at a table, a huge book open in front of him.

"Oh, hello," I said, confused. "Why are you talking to me now?"

"Technically, I've always _talked _to you." He blinked owlishly at me from behind his enormous glasses.

"Let me rephrase that. Why are you talking to me now and not looking at me as if I'm a Flobberworm?"

"I can't tell you," he said shortly. The way he said it was reminiscent of the way I had spoken this afternoon.

"All right," I said carefully. "Then, what do you want to talk to me _about_?"

"Apologize to Rose. Tell her I'm sorry and she's still my best friend." He looked up at me pleadingly. "Tell her I still love her. Please?"

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" My search for books momentarily forgotten, I pulled up a chair across from him and sat down.

"I don't trust myself," Albus replied. "Any moment now, I might be…" He looked pained and frantically shook his head. "Tell her none of this is my fault and I'll be normal again soon."

"Do you have multiple personalities?" I asked, trying to keep a mocking tone out of my voice.

"No," Albus replied. He glanced down at his book and then back at me. "Listen, Renesmee, what happened today after you fainted in front of that Boggart?"

I blinked. "Erm, shouldn't you know better than me? I was unconscious."

Albus looked exasperated. "No, not that. I mean, did anything happen to you?"

"Yes," I said. "Something did happen."

He nodded. "What was it?"

"I can't tell you," I said automatically. The words came out of my mouth as if they had been bidden to—as if I wasn't the one speaking at all.

"I thought so," Albus mumbled. He looked pleased with himself, as if he had figured this out already.

My eyes widened. "Wait—that's what's been the matter with you? The same thing that happened to me happened to you?"

"And Scorp," Albus said. "The reason that I'm acting normal right now is that I'm not…_important _at the moment. The focus is on you—it has been for a while, so I can kind of…slip out through the cracks, if you get my meaning."

"You knew this all along," I accused.

"Yes, but I couldn't tell you. It was impossible, you see." Albus adjusted his glasses and peered down at the book again. He pointed at a passage. "I've been doing research for a while now, ever since I started coming back to myself. I think this should help us."


	23. Answers

**I'm so, so, so sorry it took a month and a half to update! I got so caught up in my other story that I almost completely forgot about this one. xD And I apologize for the short length of the chapter.**

* * *

I glanced down at the book he was reading. It was entitled, _"The Most Powerful Dark Curses of the Twentieth Century." _

"You're under a curse?" I asked, the corners of my mouth turning up. "Are you about to send me on a quest to retrieve the antidote?"

Albus looked annoyed. "Enough with the jokes, please. You're under a curse too, believe it or not. We don't have much time. I don't know how much longer it'll be until he realizes I'm back to myself—"

"Okay, okay," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "What do you want me to read?"

He pointed at a paragraph. I saw the words _Imperius Curse._

Suddenly, it all made sense. The way he and Scorpius seemed to have changed their personalities completely, with no clue as to why. How they often spoke of obeying "someone else". The glazed, almost blank expressions in their eyes…

"It happened just after we got off the Hogwarts Express," Albus whispered. "He pulled Scorp and I away from the other students and jabbed his wand at us. Until about a week ago, I couldn't remember what had happened at all. He's kept us under the curse constantly."

"His name," I said. "Are the initials A.R?"

Albus nodded.

Things were beginning to make sense. Rookwood had escaped from Azkaban and put Albus and Scorpius under the Imperius Curse. But _why_? If it was Harry Potter he was after, then why Scorpius as well?

"I don't know why," Albus said as if he could read my thoughts. "He never explained. It's just been the past while that we're starting to act normal again. He's not being as careful with us anymore…I had a feeling he was targeting you."

"But I'm not under the Imperius Curse…am I?"

Albus shook his head. "I'd know if you were…he's just placed a Binding Spell on you so far."

"A what?"

"A Binding Spell. It's another Dark spell that basically renders the victim speechless when trying to mention the castor. If there's something someone doesn't want you to talk about, a Binding Spell will do the job. That's why we can't talk about him, not even if all we're doing is reading his name aloud from a textbook. There's no reverse spell as of yet—only the castor can lift it." Albus said this all very fast.

Somehow, I was even more confused than I had previously been. "But…why am _I _his new target?"

"You're immortal, right?" the young Potter asked.

I nodded.

"Well, Rookwood was a follower of Voldemort. And Voldemort's ultimate goal was to become immortal. With your family all over the wizarding news, it's no wonder he tried to break out of Azkaban. To find you. If you're half-human, you're an easier target than the rest of your family. At least…that's my theory."

My extremities appeared to have gone numb. I could only stare at Albus. "So he's…trying to…bottle immortality?"

"Yes. He will eventually capture you and then, if you're of no use to him, he'll kill you. I know how Death Eaters work. My dad's been telling us about them ever since we were little." Albus's green eyes bored into mine. I felt as if I might faint.

"And since he's so occupied with me right now, his control over you and Scorpius is starting to slip?"

"Only sometimes. He comes to us in our dreams and casts the curse again if he thinks his grip is loosening."

The whole thing sounded like a horror movie. I thought of the ancient hallway where I'd first faced Rookwood, and wondered if that had been a dream.

"Well, there's only one thing to do," I said.

"What?" I noticed Albus's eyes had started to glaze over. Crap. The curse must be taking over again.

"I don't know why he's after you and Scorpius, or what he plans to do to me, but we have to find him. Find him, and kill him."

* * *

**UPDATE JANUARY 2013:****This story is now officially **_**abandoned**_**. Sorry, guys…it's just that I don't have the time or the interest to complete this fic anymore. It was originally supposed to be a trilogy, with Albus and Nessie ultimately getting married and Al becoming a vampire. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed writing it, but after my computer crashed and I lost all the work I'd done on it (the finished product was about 100 000 words, and I hadn't even started on the sequels yet) I gradually lost the motivation to continue writing it. I'm going to leave it on here in case anyone ever wants to reread it—and if anyone wishes to continue it then go ahead by all means—but it will never be completed. Sorry about that. I do thank you for the support and reviews over the years; it really means a lot to me. **

**However, thank you for reading! Hopefully you enjoyed it.**


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